


Deku, God of Thunder

by NicktheHuman



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Multi, Takes elements from the comics and movies, The Avengers are part of Quirk and Heroics History, Thor is Deku's mentor, Thor is the only Avenger still living
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2020-05-28 15:29:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 90,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19397023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicktheHuman/pseuds/NicktheHuman
Summary: All Might may have told Midoriya Izuku that he did not possess the ability to be a Hero.However, as Deku comes to learn, he is worthy to be so much more.On hiatus.





	1. Mjolnir

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own none of the characters in this story. 
> 
> I will make lots of references to Thor's past, taking and combining elements of the movies and comics. The events of the movies have happened in Broad Strokes, but this is an alternate version of Thor, and some things will be changed. So if you read something and think, "hey, this didn't happen in the Avengers movies," well, that's on purpose! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Midoriya’s heart jumped into his throat as he asked the question. “Can someone like me...”

He shook, but suppressed the quivering in his fingers. This was his chance. His chance to ask his Hero.

“Without a Quirk...”

Midoriya pressed his eyes shut, unable to look at the Symbol of Peace. “Be A Hero...?”

\----

The scene ran through Midoriya Izuku’s mind again and again as he ran through the city streets, burnt notebook in hand. He sniffed hard in an effort to stop the tears that were already flowing and allowed his legs to carry him to through the streets until he didn’t recognize where he was anymore. He didn't know how long he had been running, and at this point, he didn't care.

“No.”

He’d finally heard confirmation from his Hero himself.

“You can’t be a Hero.” 

Someone like Deku...Quirkless and powerless, could never be a Hero. 

“I guess when All Might tells you, that’s really all there is to it,” Midoriya choked, not watching where he was going. 

In fact, his legs carried him without thinking until he was off the sidewalks, off the roadways, and a decent way from civilization. As he wiped his eyes and caught his breath, he looked around and realized he didn’t recognize where he was, or how he came to be surrounded by trees. 

“There’s not a forest around here... is there?” He asked to no one in particular. He was met with silence at the inquiry, and Deku looked around for any signs of life.

“Hello?” He called into the woods. 

A few animals skittered and rustled the leaves around him, but there was no answer. However, in the distance, he could see a light from a clearing. “Maybe that’s where I came in from...”

Deku wandered through a thin, beaten path towards the light, a little embarrassed that he had allowed himself to lose track of time and even his location in his breakdown. But as he approached, he realized that this clearing wasn’t civilization. No, he had come across a small pond. In the middle of the pond, there was a rock of sorts jutting up from the water, perfectly centered and surrounded by the tall trees of the forest. There, sitting on the rock, was a large hammer of sorts. It was a simple hammer; a rectangular block of some sort of metal, the wooden handle pointing straight up into the sky. 

In any other circumstance, Midoriya would have felt disappointed, perhaps even fearful that he was lost. 

Not today.

For some reason, that hammer was calling out to him. Not vocally, of course, but something in Deku’s chest made his heart flutter. His mind went numb, filled with nothing but a desire to get that hammer. Thoughtlessly, he began wading through the waist-deep water, not minding that he was getting his school uniform dirty, not minding as the bottom of his backpack skimmed the surface. 

Midoriya Izuku climbed the rock with ease and looked down at the rather intimidating weapon. He grabbed the handle, expecting the hammer to feel heavy, but to his shock, he lifted it easily, holding it up to eye-level with one hand. 

“Is this a prop or something?” He wondered, aloud. He ran a finger over the surface of the hammer which confirmed that it was indeed a solid, metal hammer. 

It was then that a bolt of lightning came crashing from the crystal clear blue sky and struck the young man dead in the chest. Afterwards, Midoriya was gone. 

Gone, but not dead. He blinked a few times and gasped. No longer in the mysterious woods, Midoriya found himself in a mysterious hall that stretched taller than any building, stained glass windows all around him. 

The hall itself was empty, save for one man sitting on a throne at the back of it. The man was far different from any Midoriya had met before; he looked like something out of viking folklore with a winged helmet, a braided beard, and long blonde hair that was beginning to turn gray. He had a metallic eyepatch covering his right eye, and his face was rugged and scarred from many battles. 

However, at Midoriya’s appearance, the viking looked down at the boy and gave a broad grin. “Ah! It appears Mjolnir has finally found someone worthy!” 

“Wh-what?!” Midoriya exclaimed. “T-this is a joke, right? Where am I?” 

The viking stood up. “I’m not one for jokes. I’ve got a rabbit friend, him and his tree are good at jokes. But you boy? This is no jest. For you are worthy! You are no longer Midoriya Izuku!”

“I’m... not?” Midoriya asked. 

The viking descended the stairs and shrugged. “Well, I mean, no, you’re still Midoriya Izuku, but not just that! You have inherited my title! You are the GOD OF THUNDER!” 

At this, the clapping of thunder was heard outside of the stained glass windows, louder than Midoriya had ever heard it before. The throne room itself shook at the announcement. He flinched, and that’s when he saw it; he had, indeed changed. 

Holding the hammer, Midoriya’s body no longer looked like his one. Even under his school uniform, his lanky body had morphed into a muscular form. Not outlandish, but a body that could only be secured by, say, if he had spent the better part of a year hauling trash off of a beach. The hammer, Mjolnir, sent a tingling force of energy through his entire body. 

As he marveled at what had happened, the viking clapped him on the shoulder. “Look at you! Back in my day, the Midgardians would say you looked, 'swole.' I need to make this quick: I’m Thor. God of Thunder. Or, I was. But after a few thousand years, I need to retire to focus on running Asgard - that’s where we are. I’m not the warrior I used to be. That’s where you come in.” 

Midoriya felt like his head had gotten hit by a truck. Or maybe hit by the hammer he was holding. “W-wait! God of Thunder? I’m you now? Asgard?”

Thor bellowed out a laugh. “Of course not, no. I’m me. Look at you. Even with the muscles of an Asgardian god granted by Mjolnir, you’re still tiny compared to me. You scrawny boy. We can talk later. It looks like you’re needed.”

“Needed?!” Midoriya exclaimed, more confused the more the god spoke, “Needed how?!” 

He didn’t get an answer; with the wave of his hand, a blast of lightning struck Deku, and he found himself no longer in the halls of Asgard, but in an alleyway. He looked to his hand, still finding Mjolnir clutched tightly in his shaking right palm.

But he had no time to question this over the sounds of screaming and explosions. All thoughts were erased from his head as he recognized one of the screams.

_Kacchan...?_

Midoriya peered outside the alleyway and was met with a scene of chaos; the Sludge Villain all Might had saved him from earlier was running rampant again, and a plethora of Pros were all around... but none of them were advancing. Why?

He squinted closer and saw; Bakugou was in the thralls of the sludge, the same way Deku had been when he had been saved by All Might. 

“How did he get...” Midoriya began, but then it hit him.

It was his fault; he had grabbed on to All Might, and he must have knocked the bottle loose from the Hero's pocket. 

_I...I have to do something!_ He realized, _If I don't, Kacchan will die! Because of me and my stupid Hero fantasies!_

His legs moved without thinking for another time that day as Midoriya charged forward, but something else did too. He grabbed Mjolnir by it’s thick, leather strap, and spun the hammer around by his side. He could feel something welling up in his chest. The elements, forces of nature, were swelling within his heart.

He could feel it. Midoriya grinned widely as Pro Heroes shouted for him to get back. He couldn’t hear them over the sound of lightning pulsating in his veins. 

The Sludge monstrosity turned to look as he tried to suffocate Bakugou, and for a second his eyes widened in shock. “You...?” 

“FOR ASGARD!” Midoriya shouted, turning the hammer so that it was spinning in front of the villain. 

A pocket of concentrated air surged from Mjolnir, emulating the Texas Smash he had seen from All Might earlier in the day. At the force, the villain was pried from Bakugou and the streets, splattering against the side of building with squelch. 

“YOU LITTLE BRAT!” The villain cried, peeling himself from the wall. 

Bakugou looked up at Midoriya in shock as the green-haired boy lifted his hammer to the sky. From the pouring rainclouds, a bolt of lightning came, as if he called by Deku, and struck Mjolnir.

Deku roared, pointing the hammer towards the Sludge Villain, and blasted him with a bolt of lightning that blinded the entire street; all that could be heard was the sound of his screaming. 

When the surround crowds and Pros regained their sight, the Sludge Villain was splattered against the ground, unconscious and smoldering. At the sight, even Midoriya’s breath seized up in his chest. “H-how...?”

“You,” Bakugou growled, snapping Deku out of his brief trance. The blonde looked up at him, mixed emotions etched on his face. The most evident were, shock, relief, and rage. The two boys looked at each other, to the hammer in Midoriya's hand, and back to each other once more. “What did you do, you...”

That was about all Bakugou managed to get out before they were both pulled aside by paramedics. 

“WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING KID?!”  
“ARE YOU EVEN LICENSED FOR THAT?!”  
“YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN KILLED!” 

Midoriya barely heard the screaming of the Pros around him as they admonished him. Unlicensed heroics, were frowned upon, he knew, but at the moment it didn’t seem to matter. All he could do was stare down at Mjolnir. _How did I even know to do that?!_

He looked up and blinked. From the back of the crowd, he could see All Might in his emaciated, weakened form. The two made eye contact.

And All Might beamed at him. In that moment, Deku felt his heart swell; no matter what the crowd said, he had done the right thing. 

In this day, he had been a Hero. 

Unfortunately, the police officer who grabbed his shoulder and spun him around disagreed. “Hey kid, are you licensed to interfere like this?” 

Midoriya shifted right back into a panicked state. “T-to b-be honest I j-just kind of found this hammer and...” 

The officer walked a few steps away and grabbed his walkie talkie. “What should we do about the kid?”

But as he turned around, a bolt of lightning crashed down onto Midoriya again, blinding everyone. When the light faded, Midoriya Izuku was gone.  
\---

“Gah! Next time give me a warning,” Deku cried, collapsing in the halls of Asgard, at the foot of Thor’s throne. 

The Asgardian roared with laughter. “Well, not like I could shoot you a text when you’re talking to the police.”

Deku caught his breath and stood up, dusting himself off. “Why?”

“No phone.” Thor shrugged. “Still, you’re a natural. I knew, I knew from the moment I saw you, you were worthy.” 

Deku looked down at the hammer in his hands. “Worthy...? But... I’m a Quirkless nobody...” 

Thor grabbed his shoulders, making Deku jump. “Exactly! Come, sit down.”

To Midoriya’s surprised, Thor sat down on the steps leading up to his throne and beckoned for Midoriya join him. Deku complied, still wondering if this was some sort of dying dream as he choked to death on sludge. _Maybe All Might never saved me. Maybe this is just my brain coping with death._

“Back when I would adventure on Midgard - Earth, as you call it,” Thor explained, “there were not many superpowers. Or Quirks, as you call them now. Some of the people who did have these abilities, we rallied together to protect Midgard from those who sought to destroy it. We were called the Avengers.” 

Midoriya jumped to his feet and took a few steps back. “Hold it! The Avengers?! Like one of the first ever Pro Hero Teams?! You’re THAT Thor?!” 

Thor puffed out his chest. “The very same. Not to brag, but I was definitely the strongest Avenger. I... what are you doing?” 

Thor looked at the boy in confusion as the teen dug a small notebook out of one of his pockets. “W-we learned about you guys in Quirk history! I-I even wrote a research paper about whether or not your ability to control lightning was proof of you as an alien or an early Quirk emergence! I have so many questions! What is your hammer made of? Do you generate the lightning, or command it from the sky? Like is it inside of you?"

“Alien?” Thor scoffed. “I’m Asgardian. Slow down.”

“What differentiates Asgardians from humans? How long is your lifespan? Does that mean Loki is still around?” 

“Ugh, you’re just like Banner,” Thor groaned, clasping a hand over Deku’s mouth. “Stop nerding out on me. Besides, you wrote the paper. You probably came to some pretty good conclusions.” 

Deku thought back to his own opinion on the paper; that the Mighty Thor was just an early emergence of Quirks who let power go to his head, and called himself a god out of an ego. 

He decided not to disclose that. 

“But, according to our classes, Hulk was...” Midoriya began.

“The Hulk was what?” Thor asked, huffily. 

_The Hulk and Captain Marvel were recorded as the strongest Avengers._ “Um...nevermind,” Deku replied, scratching the back of his neck. “Didn’t you disappear hundreds of years ago?” 

“Yes, well, Asgard got destroyed, blah blah blah, endless cycle of Ragnarok, blah blah blah,” Thor rolled his eye. “Long story short, periodically, Asgard goes through a rebirthing process, and when it came back, the Asgardians came back. My replacement decided she was sick of leading, so here we are.” 

“O-oh.” Midoriya replied. “Okay. Well, I guess that lines up with my notes, but... what does that have to do with me being worthy?” 

“That's what I had been talking about before you went into science mode,” Thor laughed. “Anyway, back then, there weren’t many who had the power to stop evil. And now? Now you live in a time where almost everyone has the ability. And the people who are the most able only seem to care about it doing so for coin or fame. Now, don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with the glory of battle and the spoils of a fight. But you?” Thor grinned. “You’re the only Midgardian whose entire drive revolves around saving others.”

Midoriya looked down at his own plans, setting Mjolnir down on the step below him. “So you think I’m worthy of being a Hero? Because I want to save others?” 

Thor shook his head. “Not just me, Midoriya. Mjolnir deems whether or not you were worthy. I thought you were worthy, so I put it there, sure...but you’re the one who proved it.” 

“Mjolnir thinks I’m worthy...” Midoriya sniffed. And then, a tear leaked out of his eye followed by many more. Before he knew it, he grabbed Thor in a hug and bawled. “THANK YOU THOR!” 

“I - whoa - hey, stop. You’re getting me all wet.” Thor gently pushed the smaller boy aside. “You’re more emotional than that old Man of Spiders. Anyway, don’t thank me yet. We’ll need to train you.” 

“Train me?” Deku asked, rubbing his eyes. “Won’t I get trained at Hero school?” 

Thor laughed heartily and clapped Midoriya on the back. “What, you swing the hammer around twice and think you can get into some sort of Hero school? Don’t be daft. You’re still an amateur. You, young Midoriya, are going to learn to fight like an Asgardian God of Thunder, because starting today, that’s who you’re going to be. I’ll see you tomorrow, young Midoriya. I’ll send a lightning bolt for you after your classes.”

Before Midoriya could ask anything else, Thor clapped again, summoning a lightning bolt that struck Deku. Before he knew it, he was outside of his apartment building, Mjolnir in hand. 

Deku stared up at his building, then back down at his hammer, and then backup again, trying to process the events of the last hour. 

One hour. Sixty minutes, and he had gone from, “Midoriya, Quirkless loser who should kill himself,” to, “Midoriya...God of Thunder?”

“I’ve got to be dreaming,” Midoriya muttered to himself.

“OI! THERE YOU ARE YOU SHITTY DEKU!”

 _Or maybe this is a nightmare,_ Midoriya groaned, inwardly. He turned around to see Bakugou Katsuki marching up to him, a scowl across his face. Or, as Deku liked to call it, his, "default face.”

Bakugou stopped in front of Midoriya and paused, looking at the hammer hanging limply at the shorter boy’s side. But he shook that off and launched into an angry tirade. “I DIDN’T NEED YOU TO SAVE ME TODAY!” 

“I... uh... okay, Kacchan, I believe you,” Midoriya replied, rubbing the back of his head. _Of course you didn’t. Sure._

“Just...JUST STAY OUT OF MY WAY!” Katsuki screamed. “YOU’RE STILL A SHITTY USELESS NERD, EVEN IF YOU FOUND SOME STUPID SUPPORT CRAP. GIVE ME THAT!” 

“Kacchan, wait!” Deku yelled, but it was too late. Bakugou had grabbed for Mjolnir, and pulled it from Midoriya’s hands. 

But something weird happened. The second Midoriya let go, Bakugou lurched forward as the hammer fell to the ground with a massive crash. 

“Ugh!” Bakugou grunted, pulling on the handle. “HEY, HOW DID YOU MAKE THIS SO HEAVY?!” 

Bakugou grunted and bent down, grabbing at the hammer with both hands and tugged. Mjolnir, however, did not budge. 

“Kacchan, let me see -” Deku began, but he was met with an explosion to his chest, which knocked him back a few feet and on to his ass. 

Bakugou stood up and scowled. “If a weak little shit like you can lift this, I should be able to.” Bakugou squatted down and tugged on Mjolnir once more, to no avail. 

Deku stood up, and smiled, despite himself. Watching Bakugou struggle with the weapon, when usually everything came so easily to him, made Midoriya chuckle. Slowly, he reached a hand toward Mjolnir. But when he opened his palm, another curious thing happened; Mjolnir lifted from the ground, flipped over and flew straight into Deku’s hand in a second flat. Even better, when it flipped upright, it bonked Bakugou right in the nose, and sent him back onto his ass. 

Deku wrapped his fingers around Mjolnir’s handle and grinned. 

“OW!” Bakugou cried, clutching his nose with both hands. A small trickle of blood seeped out. “Wha dib you do to my nothe?!” 

Midoriya smiled down at his hammer, and gave it a light toss into the air, flipping it once and catching it by the handle again. “It’s my hammer, Kacchan.” He turned, giving his childhood friend a small wave. “See you tomorrow.”


	2. The Storm Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Thor teaches Midoriya the nature of his abilities, the young man realizes how troublesome they can be if he's not careful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is purely a work of fiction and I own none of these characters.

Midoriya Izuku had never been popular at his middle school, though he was used to people talking about him in some way or another; The words, “nerd,” “fanboy,” “otaku,” and, “Quirkless,” followed him around like his shadow, with no way to get rid of them. Bakugou and his friends usually made sure of that. 

The day after the Sludge Villain had attacked different words followed him around. Or, more accurately, different phrases. 

“Was that him on the news?”  
“Couldn’t be.”   
“Where do you think he kept the hammer all this time?”  
“Think he’s been lying this whole time?”

Even with all the attention he got being different, Midoriya couldn’t help but squirm. Everyone seemed to be taking a wide berth of him, as if he was carrying some sort of contagious disease. 

_Jeez...they all have Quirks,_ he lamented as the final bell rang, _why are they acting like this just because mine came with a hammer and some weather changes?_

He supposed it made sense though, unfortunately. Deku had spent most of his life trying to be as invisible as possible to avoid the ridicule that came with being Quirkless. Showing up on the news with a lightning hammer was probably going to turn some heads. 

It wasn’t until lunch someone, a girl a year younger than him he had never even spoken to before, finally asked him about the news. “E-excuse me?”

Midoriya looked up at the smaller girl, standing across the table. “Y-yes?”

“That was you, right?” She asked, breathlessly. “On the news? Aren’t you... you know... ”

Deku rubbed the back of his neck. He and Thor hadn’t talked about whether or not he should go announcing he was the God of Thunder or anything like that. And with how new he was, the attention that might bring didn’t seem... desirable. 

“W-well that’s what I thought,” he stammered. “But when I picked up that hammer to save Kacchan, I guess something just clicked in me. G-guess I’m a late b-bloomer, huh?”

The girl just nodded and ran off to another group of students to gossip. Midoriya hoped that would be a passable enough story for the time being.

All the same, the final bell brought a wave of relief to Midoriya as he stepped outside into the sunlight. The rays of sun warmed his cheeks, and Midoriya wondered if a bolt of lightning could really be summoned to transport him on a day like this. Thor had snuck a note in Deku’s pocket the night before, simply instructing to leave Mjolnir on his balcony, which, of course, he complied with. 

Thor was certainly no All Might - no one was - but the Avengers were a very fascinating research subject when he first began taking Quirk history. Many documents were lost to history about the fates of some of them, but one of the biggest debates of scholars was whether or not Thor’s claim to godhood was genuine. Right behind whether or not The Hulk was still alive somewhere. 

After the last twenty-four hours, Midoriya really had no choice but no believe it. Thor would have to have no less than five different Quirks to accomplish his recorded feats, maybe more. Even godhood seemed more likely. 

Further than that, The Avengers - Thor in particular - were some of the first documented Heroes in history. The thought of learning directly under one of them was something Midoriya couldn’t pass up. It was the chance of a lifetime!

“OI!! NERD!” 

Midoriya grimaced and turned around, thoughts interrupted. Bakugou and his two lackeys were storming up to him. For a second, Midoriya was nervous; he didn’t want to have to fight. He was sick of fighting. But there was a rumble in the air that was almost soothing. 

“Where’s THAT SHITTY HAMMER?!” Bakugou scowled, rolling up his sleeve. 

A cool breeze rolled in, and as Katsuki approached the Quirkless boy, a lightning bolt came down from the cloudless sky and struck Midoriya, sweeping him away and knocking Bakugou flat on his ass for the second time that week. 

“DAMN IT!” Bakugou screamed, punching the ground.  
\---

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that,” Deku panted, putting his hands on his knees once he arrived in the throne room of Asgard. 

“You better, you’re the God of Thunder now!” Thor chuckled. “You left the hammer on your balcony, right?”

Deku straightened himself up and nodded. “I did.”

Thor grinned. “Now...what would you say if I told you that you could summon Mjolnir with your own mind?”

“Yeah, I know.” Deku replied. He held out his hand, and with a rushing of wind, and a few seconds pause as Mjolnir flew across several planets, the weapon snapped itself into the boy’s palm. “I figured it out yesterday when Kacchan tried to lift it.”

Thor slumped forward a bit, looking deflated and clearly disappointed. “Really letting the wind out of my sails here, Midoriya.” 

“S-sorry.” He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "It just kind of... happened."

Thor rebounded and swelled himself up with gusto once more. “Well then, lesson two...fighting Frost Giants!” 

Midoriya yelped and dropped the weapon, cracking the floor tile. “W-wait! Lesson one is summoning the hammer and two is FIGHTING GIANTS?! I thought we’d ease our way into this a little!” 

Thor bellowed with laughter. “You don’t ease your way into lightning, Midoriya! LIGHTNING STRIKES! NOW COME!”   
\---

It didn’t take more than a few days, several bruises, and a black eye for Midoriya to figure out that Thor’s version of, “training,” consisted traveling to several planets and fighting mythological beasts. 

“You’ve got what I would call a hero’s instinct, Midoriya,” Thor explained on Friday afternoon. The two of them were crouched behind a boulder as an undead dragon breathed green flames at them from the other side. “Even when acting to save your friend Kachow, you acted without thinking, and wielded Mjolnir with expertise.”

“I-it's a little bit harder to do when someone isn't in danger.” Midoriya replied, peeking out from behind the boulder, ducking back as more toxic breath was spewed at him. “...did you just call him Kachow?”

“That's what the warrior training is for,” Thor shrugged. The flames subsided. “NOW STRIKE! THIS BEAST STOLE MY GOLD PLAYSTATION CONTROLLER!”

“THAT'S WHY WE'RE HERE?!”

“STRIKE NOW, BOY!”

Midoriya jumped from the behind the boulder, spinning Mjolnir by his side, and chucking the hammer towards the head of the undead dragon. The dragon ducked, and reared back for another blast of fire, when Deku called for Mjolnir to return. The hammer burst through the back of the skeletal beast’s skull, and the rest of it collapsed onto the stony terrain, dead. 

“Very good. The boomerang tactic works well on beasts; they tend to forget a threat that is not in it’s line of sight,” Thor congratulated, walking over to the beasts horde. “Help yourself to some treasure, Asgard’s vaults are already loaded.” 

Midoriya caught his breath and watched as Thor rifled through piles of gold until the god finally found his customized Playstation controller. “Huzzah!” The Asgardian cried, “I say thee nay, dragon!” 

Deku rolled his eyes, but pocketed a few gold coins; maybe he’d buy something nice for his mom.   
\---

The months passed. As Autumn arrived, Midoriya explained to Thor that he would be trying out for UA's Hero Course in one months time.

“Ah yes... I think you'll be prepared.” Thor agreed. “Still, hundreds of years later, and Midgard still requires licensing for Heroes. You think they'd have learned.”

“Yeah, I remember reading that there was a lot of struggle about the Sakovia Accords. What side were you on?” Midoriya asked, curiously. 

“Pfft. I was off planet,” Thor waved a hand. “I had better things to do while Tony and Steve - Iron Man and Captain America as you know them - threw tantrums. So. Anyway. Your battle prowess has improved immensely. I think you'll be ready for any sort of hero examination with just one more proper lesson.”

“What's that?” Midoriya asked. His curious heightened a bit; usually Thor just referred to his lessons as, “feats of strength.”

“Wielding Mjolnir is not simply muscles, hammer tosses, and lightning strikes,” Thor explained. “Though, that’s pretty cool. Mjolnir simply harnesses and concentrates the power bestowed upon you. It is a great responsibility. You, young Midoriya, are a Person of Mass Destruction.” 

Midoriya gulped slightly, and nodded. Thor continued, “you’ve mastered creating air currents and lighting within the hammer to attack. You, however, have the ability to alter the weather all around you. Hurricanes. Torrential rain. Lightning and Thunder, obviously. These are not abilities to be taken lightly, but you need to know how to do them, should the time ever come. The power of nature can level entire cities, so you need to know how to control that within yourself.” 

In a strike of lightning, the two were transported to a large, open field. Thor looked around. “This will do. Midoriya. Spin your hammer, and feel the storm inside of you. Be the storm. And then, create the storm. Bring the rain.”

Reaffirming his determination, Deku nodded, grabbed Mjolnir by the strap, and spun it over his head. Unfortunately, creating the storm and manipulation of the weather was harder than he thought. Summoning a bolt of lightning was easy; it was part of battle, all it took was the mental energy of wanting to zap an enemy. 

The creation of torrential rain and wind was harder. It wasn’t battle relevant in this moment, and Midoriya had no idea where the wind was to blow from. His thoughts scattered to the surroundings, eyes darting around from one end of the field to another. Panic began to rise in his chest as nothing in the sunny clearing changed. 

After a few hours, Thor stopped him. “Aye, lad. This is the hardest lesson, hence why I have saved it for last. We’ll try again tomorrow. But remember. The storm is in you.” 

Deku nodded, gripping Mjolnir to his chest tightly. “I won’t let you down, Thor!”   
\---

Days passed, and with the UA Hero Exam looming overhead, Midoriya seemed no closer to summoning the storm within himself than he had been when he first started. 

Despite the mounting frustration and discouragement, Thor remained optimistic. Weather manipulation was, after all, the most complex and difficult powers that came with being the God of Thunder. The weather itself was dictated by so many things; air currents, moon patterns, changing climates, and more. For one being to alter all of that, even temporarily, necessitated a lot of concentrated energy. 

It was the Friday before the examination when something changed. Midoriya left his middle school, and absentmindedly summoned Mjolnir as he exited the building. By now, many of the students had grown accustomed to the sight and knew to give Midoriya a wide berth as a magical hammer sped to his hand. It was a bright, sunny day, and usually the feeling of the sun’s warmth against his face was reassuring for Deku. Today, it just felt like a taunt. 

_Maybe the hammer is wrong?_ Midoriya thought, staring down at the weapon in his hand. _Maybe I’m not worthy, or have a storm inside me. I mean, it’s a hammer? It can’t be that smart, can it?_

Before he could speculate further though, a deafening noise rang in his ears, and he was thrust forward onto the ground. He dropped Mjolnir and rolled across the pavement, groaning in pain. He was given no chance to recover, as two bodies quickly pinned down his arms and grabbed at his hands. 

As his vision and hearing returned, he realized those two bodies belonged to Bakugou’s friends, holding down his arms and forcibly trying to close his fists so that he couldn’t summon Mjolnir. Katsuki himself stood above him, looking down at him with a look of disdain and malice. 

“Tch,” he grunted. “That’s what I thought. Without that hammer, you’re still a shitty Deku, aren’t you?”

At the words, Midoriya struggled, trying to pry his hands open or throw Bakugou’s lackeys off of him. But even with the increased muscle mass he had gained under Thor’s tutelage, he couldn’t force the two teen boys off his arms when they were spread out like that. 

Bakugou turned and looked at the weapon that lay on the school walkway a few feet away. Looking up, he saw a crowd was drawing around them. A smile snuck across his face - the kind of smile reserved for when he was showing how strong he was. What was the point of being the strongest without an audience, after all? He looked back down to Mjolnir. “Let’s see you get into UA without this...” 

“Kacchan! Don’t!” Midoriya cried. He wasn’t sure if Mjolnir could actually be destroyed, but the fact that Bakugou, the strongest kid his age he knew, was trying to do so wasn’t setting him at ease. 

“Do it, Bakugou!” Sneered one of the boys on Midoriya’s arm. 

An explosion rang out in front of the school, prompting Midoriya to squirm harder. As the smoke, cleared Mjolnir stood, unharmed. 

Katsuki growled. “Shitty hammer! DIE!” 

Two more explosions rocked the ground, causing the pavement to shake and rubble to smack against Midoriya’s forehead. The pain mixed with frustration, and the green-haired boy could feel his heart pounding furiously in chest. It almost sounded like a rumble as the blood rushed to his ears. “KNOCK IT OFF, KACCHAN!” 

Dust and debris cleared once more, showing Mjolnir had not budged, even as the sidewalk under it was beginning to crack and crumble. A few girls in the crowd snickered, making Bakugou’s eye twitch. 

Bakugou’s fists clenched and he rounded back towards Midoriya. “WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS SHITTY HAMMER MADE OF?!”

“LEAVE IT ALONE!” Midoriya shouted back. Bakugou’s two friends pressed their weight down further against his arms at this, causing Midoriya to grunt. 

Bakugou stared down at Midoriya as if he had grown a second face. “Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?!” He gave a small kick against Midoriya’s head. “I’m going to destroy your stupid hammer, and you’ll know your place, nerd.” 

The pain and laughter from Bakugou’s friends mixed with the anger Midoriya was already feeling. He heard thunder in his ears, and the beating of his heart on adrenaline sent feeling of pin pricks along his entire body. His arms felt like they were on fire, and for a minute he saw a look of worry cross the face of one of the boys holding him down.

“Uh...hey Bakugou?” The friend called. 

“Shut up,” Bakugou sneered. “I’m busy.”

It was unfortunate that he chose not to look back. If he had, Bakugou might have noticed that Midoriya himself was changing. The boy’s normal green eyes were now glowing blue, and his hair was standing on end. 

Midoriya wasn’t sure why these particular words came to mind; perhaps because Thor talked about having said them so much in his early days. But as Bakugou raised his hand to attack the hammer once again, Izuku opened his mouth. The shout that came out shook the entire school.

“I SAY THEE NAY!” 

At the words, clouds formed in the sky, covering the schoolyard in darkness. Lightning cracked, thunder roared, and the heavens opened up to pour rain down upon the entire middle school. Bakugou tried to form an explosion, but the heavy rain completely put out any flames he tried to ignite. 

With a surge of strength, Midoriya turned, throwing the two boys off of him, and stood to face Bakugou. The two childhood friends glared at each other with gritted teeth. Midoriya marched forward, seething with anger, eyes ablaze in an icy blue color. Bakugou, to his credit, matched the steps of his counterpart, until they were only a foot or so apart, glaring at each other. 

Midoriya raised his hand so that it was level with Bakugou’s head, a few inches to the right of his shoulders. Within an instant, Mjolnir flew to Deku’s hand, the weight of the hammer on the same level as Bakugou’s head. 

It was only for a brief instant, but Deku could tell the message was received loud and clear. In that moment, Bakugou flinched, his anger falling and giving way to a look Midoriya had never seen on the taller boy’s face before.

It was fear. 

The fear was quickly replaced with same anger. Students began to disperse around them in a panic, as the air around them was charged with electricity and adolescent rage. 

The situation could have turned very dangerous. It could have turned into a bloody fight. But it was in that moment, Thor sent a lightning bolt to summon Deku to Asgard, leaving a lone Bakugou to fume and stir in his embarrassment.   
\---

It took Midoriya a moment or two to calm down once in the halls of Asgard, and when he did, he saw Thor looking at him with a smile that wasn’t full of it’s usual vigor for battle. No, the smile seemed a bit more forlorn.

“So... you summoned the storm,” Thor mused, voice quieter than usual. “And without Mjolnir. That’s truly an impressive feat for someone so inexperienced.” 

Deku looked at his feet. Despite the accomplishment... it didn’t feel right. “I lost control, I guess. I just... Kacchan made me so mad, trying to attack your hammer.”

“Your hammer, Young Midoriya,” Thor corrected him. “I’m not...overall shocked that it was in this manner you were able to first bring out the raging storms that come with the title. Come, sit with me.” 

The two turned and sat on the stairs below the throne. Thor looked down at this own hands. “I, too, first learned how to summon a storm in anger. I’m not surprised that it was in the same you learned as well.” 

There was something of a melancholy tone in his voice as he told the tale. “What do you mean?” Midoriya asked. 

“When I was a boy, my brother Loki,” Thor glanced down to see Midoriya had already taken out his notebook at the mention of the God of Mischief. “Put that way, we’re not doing the nerd thing right now. Anyway, Loki and eye didn’t see eye to eye as children, brothers as we are. When we were teenagers, I was lured to the seaside far from home by the call of a siren.”

“Was that Loki?” Deku asked.

Thor nodded. “That time, yes. Usually a siren either meant a good fight or, well... er, ask your parents.”

“I'm 15, Thor. I know what sex is,” Midoriya deadpanned, though his cheeks took a red tinge at the word.

“Anyway, when I arrived, Loki arranged an avalanche on a near cliff. Rocks pinned me underwater.”

“That's... Kind of terrifying.” Deku gulped.

“Pfft,” Thor waved dismissively. “That was one his tamer attempts to kill me, in the long run. Anyway, fearing for my life and enraged, I called forth a tsunami. Nearly killed Loki and myself.”

“I see...” 

“That's also why I pulled you out of there,” Thor pat Midoriya on the back. “You grew up with Kachow, didn't you?”

Deku nodded, ignoring the misnaming.

“Aye. I figured as much.” Thor stood. “Such bonds can breed complicated emotions and rivalry. Be wary of your own powers, young Midoriya. Never allow a loss of control to take an innocent life.”

Midoriya gulped but nodded. “I... I understand.”

“Good!” Thor exclaimed, clapping his apprentice on the back. “Enough lectures! Let us work on control of these abilities! You have an exam coming up, the first step to being a Great Hero Worthy of the title God of Thunder!”

As Thor turned away, Deku got up to follow, but look down at Mjolnir first. This power, amazing as it was, came with a heavy responsibility. He would just have to use it wisely.


	3. The Big Exam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exam Day is HERE! Will Thor's training methods be enough?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing

Midoriya stood outside the building for his examination, staring up at it as his feet drug underneath him. 

This was it. Today was the day he’d find out if he had the power to be a Hero. Despite all his training, he still couldn’t quell the butterflies in his stomach as he approached. Not helping was the fact that he hadn’t slept well at all the night before. He kept having the same dream all week; that he would wake up, and that Mjolnir was gone. In the dream he was no longer worthy, and he went back to being a Quirkless nobody, a useless Deku. 

Of course, Mjolnir was always there in the morning, as was the lightning in his veins. Thor had insisted quite eagerly that he was ready for the examination, though Midoriya still had not been able to maintain flight with Mjolnir. 

_I got this. I got this. I got this._ He repeated in his mind. The mantra, ever present since he had left his home, was vaguely calming. It was his grounding technique, his meditation, a way of life to weave peace within the intricate folds and wrinkles of his brain, and appease the thunderous anxiety within his soul. That was, until he tripped over his own two clumsy feet. _I DON’T GOT THIS!_

He braced himself for imminent death of pavement and embarrassment, but it never came. Suddenly, he halted at a forty-five degree angle, something tugging around his midsection that held him in place. “Huh?”

The tugging got stronger briefly, and pulled him back onto his feet. Looking down, Midoriya saw something long and pink unwrap from his midsection and retreat behind him. Following it, he saw it was in fact a tongue, and that was recoiled into a girl with long green hair, who was hunched over slightly. Even without the hunch, she was a bit shorter than him, and her hands and eyes seemed a bit larger than the average teenage girl's. 

The keyword here was, “girl.” _DID A GIRL JUST TOUCH ME WITH HER TONGUE?!_ On instinctual reaction, Midoriya made some sort of odd sound between popcorn popping and a chipmunk squeaking, and covered his reddened face behind his arms. 

The girl tilted her head curiously at the reaction, poking an index finger to the corner of her mouth. “Kero. Sorry about using my tongue to stop you. I guess that’s kind of gross since you’re a stranger. Just thought it would be better than faceplanting.” 

_She was trying to help you._ He realized, somewhat aware of how silly he probably looked. “Th-th-th-thank you!” Midoriya managed to bow slightly, returning his arms to his side. Even as he straightened out, he couldn’t muster the courage to look her in the eyes. _I hope Thor isn’t watching._

Thankfully, the girl looked up at the building past him. “You must be trying out for the Hero Course too, kero?” 

Midoriya managed a small nod. Thankfully, the girl with large eyes noticed, preventing the need for him to speak further. 

“I wonder what they’ll have us do. I’m pretty nervous, kero,” she said. Despite her claim, and Midoriya’s nervousness, this took him aback a bit. Her voice was anything but nervous. It was a stoic, croaky voice. If anything, it took him out of his panicked stupor a bit. If she could be nervous and not be a stuttering mess, then Midoriya probably could manage the same.

“...me too,” he admitted, the redness falling from his cheeks a bit. “Thanks again.” 

“No problem,” she ribbited. “Good luck today, kero. By the way, my name is Asui Tsuyu. But you can call me Tsu.” 

Before he could answer, she walked away, making her way towards the exam building. Midoriya watched her for a second before looking up at the building. 

_Well...if nothing else, I talked to a girl today._ He took a deep breath and continued towards his fate. “Here goes nothing.”   
\---  
“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GET GOING!!” 

Midoriya turned back from where Present Mic was standing to see the rest of the examinees were all taking off running to hunt down the robots. “Damn it!” He cursed under his breath, taking off running while spinning Mjolnir at this side. 

The written exam, while hard, he at least figured he passed. Most of the questions he felt confident about, but there were enough throwing him off that he still felt uneasy turning it in. Not to mention how flustered he got when the tall guy with glasses told him to, “stop muttering.” _Was it necessary to call me out in front of everyone? Yeesh._

The combat portion was unlike anything he had really heard of before. Robots with assigned point values? A Zero-Pointer that served as an obstacle? It still was a bit unclear.

He turned a corner and a three point robot pointed flame thrower right at Midoriya’s face. He wasted no time throwing Mjolnir through the robot, causing it to splinter at all joints and collapse. “Three points," Midoirya counted to himself.

Another robot, a two pointer, dropped from out of the side of the building, and began charging towards him. Midoriya jumped to the side and called Mjolnir to return, bursting through the back of the robot. “Five points.” 

_I wish I had mastered flight,_ he thought, running past alleys in the mock city, keeping his eyes open for any more robots. “Eight points.” _I’d be able to find robots much easier._

Midoriya heard explosions and yelling coming from his left, and instinctively ran towards it. Momentarily, he forgot this was a test; it sounded like someone was in trouble. More voices became distinct; apparently this was where all the robots were. 

Charging down the streets, he saw a blonde boy surrounded by three pointers, destroying them as he shot a laser out of his... stomach? 

_He seems to have this under control,_ Midoriya thought, but no sooner than this crossed his mind, the boy doubled over in pain, clutching his midsection. 

“My tummy!” He cried. As he crouched, the last robot loomed over him, ready to strike. Midoriya wasn’t sure how vicious these robots were programmed to be against entrants, but he wasn’t about to find out.

“LOOK OUT!” Deku cried, leaping over the boy and smashing the robot to pieces with a crack of Mjolnir. Nuts, bolts, and gears went flying everywhere as he brought the hammer clear through the robot and onto the streets. “Eleven points... hey, are you okay?” He asked, turning to the blonde and extending a hand. 

Laser-Stomach-Boy stood up on his own power though, still holding his midsection but smiled almost as brightly as his laser. “Oui, mon ami! My hero! Merci, my green haired friend.” 

“Um! Th-thanks,” Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck, blushing a bit. “G-good luck out there.” 

The two took off in the same direction, but as they rounded a corner they saw a rush of people going towards them. It looked like almost every entrant was opposite of the two of them, Midoriya even saw the taller boy with the blue hair and the glasses. As he looked up past the crowd, he saw why.

The Zero Pointer. The obstacle to be avoided had been unleashed, and it was huge. Towering over every mock building, it clunked the space of about a block in one step. Even Bakugou could be seen using his explosions to rocket away from it, though he diverted off to the side to find more robots to smash up. 

“We... we should leave,” Blonde-Laser-Boy gulped, turning and running without waiting for a confirmation. 

Midoriya would have followed in a heartbeat, but he heard something over the robots and thundering footsteps. It wasn’t so much of a cry for help, but someone was hurt. Looking past the crowd, he saw a girl pinned under the rubble. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and was struggling to push some a large rock off of her, but her arms couldn’t reach it. 

The Zero Pointer was coming towards her, as were some smaller robots, and at this rate...

Midoriya grit his teeth and began running past the crowd, despite the blood rushing to his ears and the shaking in his knees. He had to save her. 

As he was running, he saw Asui Tsuyu hopping the other way on all fours. Their eyes met for a brief second, and even on her stoic face, she looked panic. 

_I have to save everyone,_ he panicked. 

Spinning Mjolnir at his side, it began to generate electricity as his heart thundered. As three pointers began to surround him, he slammed his hammer against the pavement. Bolts of lightning burst forth, exploding the robots around him as the sparked and hissed. He was at twenty-six points now, but didn't bother calling it out; he had bigger fish to fry. 

The foot of the Zero Pointer came down towards the girl, but Deku threw Mjolnir towards its knee joint. In a burst of electricity, the leg broke off the monstrosity and collapsed against the streets.

While well-meaning, this wasn't the best way to dispose of the robot; with one leg, the robot lost balance and began falling towards Midoriya, and the brown haired girl. For its size, some of the contestants running away might even get crushed too.

Adrenaline and lighting pushing him forward, Midoriya jumped with all the Asgardian strength granted to him as fitting his position of God of Thunder. Rocketing through the air, he met with the head of Zero Pointer stories above the ground. With a heavy swing of Mjolnir, he struck the robot, causing electricity to explode above the testing grounds. Lightning crackled in all direction as the robot went flying backwards, falling apart in pieces on the ground below. 

A smile spread across Midoriya’s face as he looked down at the carnage; he’d done it. He’d knocked a robot away from everyone else. Everyone should be safe now. Of course, this relief was momentary, as gravity kicked in and he began plummeting to the ground below. 

Panic replaced joy as the weight of Mjolnir dragged him headfirst towards the ground. _Crap! How do I get out of this?!_

Eyes darting frantically as the pavement began to approach him, he looked down at Mjolnir. “M-maybe an airblast straight down as I get close? I could - HRGK!”

He was abruptly stopped, for the second time that day, as a long pink appendage wrapped around his midsection. Following the trail of it down, he saw it once again belonged to Asui Tsuyu. She had jumped onto a nearby building wall, and was sticking to it, and had shot her tongue out to catch Midoriya not long into his fall. 

He made no effort hiding his sigh of relief as she reeled him in towards her. “Th-thanks Asui.”

She nodded and set him in to an open window. “No problem. But remember, call me Tsu, kero.”

He blushed a bit as the adrenaline worse off. “R-right. Sorry Asui. I mean, Tsu!” 

A buzzer rang out around the arena, signaling that the event was over. The two looked out at the hopefuls down below them on the streets; some were fist-pumping, others looked like they were on the way to the morgue. Most just looked nervous though. 

“Kero...guess that’s that...” Tsuyu looked around, and her cheeks took on a brief tinge. “Do you want a lift down?” 

“S-sure.” Deku replied, a bit embarrassed as her tongue wrapped around his chest for the third time that day. “Thank you!” 

Within a moment, she placed him on the ground and crawled down herself. “By the way, kero, I never caught your name.” 

“O-oh. It’s Midoriya Izuku.” He bowed slightly. “I-it’s been really nice to meet you.” 

Her lips curled upwards in a bit of a smile. It made her eyes look bigger. “How did you do, anyway?”

Izuku quickly tallied the points in his head, “I... I think I had twenty five points? Lost count when I went after the Zero Pointer...”

“I think that’s pretty good, kero. I was at thirty when this all happened. Most people had a few less than me.” 

Midoriya felt his throat go somewhat dryer; why was fighting robots easier than this conversation? Was he nervous about doing worse than others or talking to Tsuyu? Both, he figured. Definitely both.

“So...out of curiosity,” Midoriya gulped, mustering his courage to ask what he considered to be a serious question, “is the extending tongue your Quirk?”

Tsuyu chuckled, emitting a throaty, croaking noise. “Actually, my Quirk is Frog. It’s...”

As she began to explain as the two walked, Midoriya’s hand twitched for his notebook. Unfortunately, he hadn’t brought it since it wasn’t part of his exam. Still he muttered along, naming off all sorts of uses a Transformative Frog Quirk could be. 

“That’s so versatile! You could be plugged into any Hero team and boost it. Just so long as you weren’t thrown in the cold, but with the right Hero suit and Support equipment even that could help. But maybe the bulky suit would just way you down since jumping speed is so crucial for...”

“The muttering is a bit creepy, Midoriya,” Tsuyu interrupted, rather bluntly. She didn’t sound bothered by it, at least.

“S-sorry!” Midoriya blushed. “M-my Quirk developed really late, s-so I grew up thinking I was Quirkless s-so I kinda got obsessed...”

His rambling trailed off as Tsuyu laughed. “It’s fine, kero. You’re kind of a dork, aren’t you?” 

“Heh...yeah, a bit.” He admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

“That’s okay, kero.” She smiled again. “You’re just passionate.” 

"Thanks," he smiled back to her. "I never really thought of it that way."

The two nervously joined their fellow testers in exiting the arena, Present Mic announcing the results would be mailed to them in two to four weeks time. 

\---

As he was approaching his mom’s car in the parking lot, Midoriya heard a shout from behind him. “H-hey!” 

He turned and blinked, confused as he saw a girl with brown hair running towards him. His eyes widened when he realized that she was the girl who had been pinned under the rubble as the Zero Pointer attacked. _Holy crap, two girls talking to me?! On the same day?!_

The girl panted as she caught up to him. “There you are! I never got a chance to thank you!” 

Midoriya went red again; he’d lost count of how often that had happened to him that day. “O-oh, it’s no t-trouble. I’m g-glad you were okay!” 

The brown hair girl beamed. “Me too! I was ready to catch you with my Quirk, but I guess the girl with the tongue got to you first!”

Midoriya smiled, nervousness dissipating a bit. “Yeah? What’s your Quirk?” 

The girl explained her Zero Gravity Quirk, and it’s drawback of feeling sick of she used it too much or on things that were too heavy. Midoriya, remembering his earlier interaction with Asui, held back his muttering, chewing on his tongue. “That sounds so cool!” He allowed himself to say, finally. 

“Well, it’s not magic-electric-hammer cool, but thanks.” She smiled. “Sorry, I totally forgot. I’m Uraraka Ochako.” She held out a hand for a handshake, pinky tucked in.

“Midoriya Izuku,” he replied, returning the handshake. Knees weak, he hoped his palms weren’t sweaty, and that he’d be able to keep down mom’s spaghetti later. He snapped his attention back to the gravity-user. “N-nice to meet you!” 

The two parted ways, wishing each other luck on the test. Inko, of course, wasted to time probing her son on who the, “pretty girl,” was. Izuku was left wondering if he’d live through the embarrassment to even get through Hero school.   
\---

From the throne of Asgard, Thor dispelled the scrying spell he had learned from Loki. A small smile was across his face; Midoriya had done better than he had anticipated. 

He rubbed his beard, considering summoning the boy to congratulate. After a few minutes, he decided against it. He’d let the boy revel in a successful night for the day, and they could get back to training tomorrow.

“Speaking of,” Thor groaned as he stood up. “I should teach him to talk to girls. That was almost painful to watch.”


	4. Acceptance and Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being accepted into UA is great, Deku better learn to hit the ground running.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing.

Midoriya sat at his desk, breathing shakily. He glanced at the All Might clock next to him (Twenty-four hours of Plus Ultra Justice), confirming that twenty minutes had gone by since he watched the holo-disc that had been sent to him. His nose itched a little, which was probably what was calling him back to reality. 

All Might’s words rang in his head, one phrase in particular. 

“I never should have underestimated you, Young Midoriya!” The Symbol of Peace had said. Even through the hologram, All Might stood with his hands on his hips in a ridiculous yellow pinstripe suit, a look of pride plastered all over his face. “You are definitely Hero material. You ranked high in both Combat Points AND RESCUE POINTS! We didn't even tell the students about Rescue Points! We look forward to seeing you at UA!” 

He slowly rolled his desk chair back, stood up, and made his way to his bedroom door on wobbly knees. He cracked the door open to see his mother standing behind it, trembling. Behind her, Thor, the God of Thunder, stood there in a raggedy old hoodie. Thor tried his best to look nonchalant, but the wringing of his hands in the hoodie pocket was a pretty obvious giveaway that he was nervous as well.

Midoriya looked from the two of them as they stared back. Slowly, a small smile unfurled from his lips as he let out a small laugh that could be mistaken for a gasp.

“I got in.” 

Inko collapsed into her son with a hug, and Thor shouted, “HUZZAH,” to the ceiling, prompting Mrs. Sakomoto in the apartment above them to stomp against her floor with a broomhandle. 

Inko sniffled, “I’m so proud of you!” She straightened herself out, “I should make you your favorite for dinner tonight...” 

Thor, however, clapped a hand on both of their shoulders, though noticeably more gently for Inko. “Nonsense. Tonight we dine in the halls of Asgard, befitting the new God of Thunder!”   
\---

Midoriya Inko had reservations over the last year when her son had come home one day, after being on the news, with a magical hammer. She was concerned when he had begun talking about historical figures like Thor, an Avenger from history textbooks, was suddenly training him. And while those things weighed on her mind, like any mother, the results seemed good for him at the time. He was getting out more, exercising, and he seemed happier too. Maybe becoming a Hero was possible for him. And while that thought itself brought maternal fears, she wanted to see her son succeed. 

Thor himself had showed up every day since the exam, looking worried and asking about the results of the Hero Exam. After about five days of politely telling him that the results hadn’t come in the mail yet, Inko had felt inclined to invite him in for tea. That was when Izuku finally had seen what was going on, and gave embarrassed introductions for the two. Thor seemed polite, if... odd, at the time. 

Seeing Asgard, on the other hand, made her wonder if she had made an error in the type of person she was allowing to mentor her son for the better part of a year. Men and women in robes and armor were walking around everywhere, and for every weird look she gave them, she was getting the same in return for her own clothes. Although, a few Asgardian warriors seemed to recognize her son and would high-five him as they passed. 

Still, she was not one to pass up the hospitality of someone as seemingly generous as Thor. Asgard cuisine was quite different from Japanese faire, and she had to stifle some laughter as the King of Asgard himself took a large bite from a turkey leg barehanded. 

Izuku was talking to a warrior woman seated near the front - apparently her name was Valkyrie and she had played an important role in assisting with his training and the goings on of Asgard. Inko took the time to lean over and ask Thor, “So what sort of training have you been giving my son?” 

Thor dropped the turkey leg and grinned lopsidedly. “All sorts. One of his earlier tasks was when we traveled to the underworld to fight the Draco Lich. But that’s rather informal - I’m not much one for rank and custom. My second in command, Valkyrie - yes, her there - she has been helping me teach Young Midoriya weapon handling and proper battle form.” 

Valkyrie, who had overheard her name pop up, took a swig of ale from the tankard in front of her, before ruffling Izuku’s hair. “This bushy-headed kid’s become one of my favorite sparring partners. He’s got a real warrior’s instinct.”

Izuku blushed and hid behind a leg of lamb. Inko tried not to look too terrified at the amount of information she had just been given. Apparently she had failed, as Thor reached over and grabbed her shoulder. “One can’t be a Hero without putting themselves in danger. But I believe that’s part of what makes Midoriya worthy; he’ll leap into combat albeit recklessly. His mind is always working out the proper tactics. We'll train him to be a proper and cunning fighter.” 

“More than can be said for you, King Thor,” Valkyrie snarked, causing some of the warriors to laugh. Izuku himself stifled a laugh, hoping Thor wouldn’t catch on. 

Thor just rolled his eyes. “I may be a hothead, but I always got things done, didn’t I?” 

“I was just thinking that a lot of this seems like gladiator training, not Hero training,” Inko said quietly, so that just Thor heard.

Thor rubbed his beard, pondering the words, before leaning in to speak to just Inko. “You know, growing up, those two things were indistinguishable. I took part in many wars on my father Odin’s behalf, hailed as a hero for all the bloody battles I won. But when I came to Midgard - Earth - I met a lot of brave and women who showed me that distinction. Honor, valor, wisdom, and kindness come with that title, not just feats of strength.” Thor grinned to his ward’s mother. “Your boy has those things - I have no doubt they factor into why Mjolnir chose him. He has the inner strength to be worthy of the title. The only thing missing in him was battle prowess, which is where I have come in.” 

“Well, I can’t say you haven’t done a good job,” Inko admitted. “It’s nice to see him able to stand up for himself. Are you going to be done once he goes to UA?”

“Heavens no!” Thor laughed. It’d been some time since Inko had heard such a hearty sound. “I’ll stick around to be the boy’s mentor throughout his training. Have to make sure he makes the title look good.”

Inko chuckled. “Well...I’m glad to hear that. I think you’re doing a good job.”   
\---

Midoriya Izuku was usually a very diligent student, usually placing third or fourth grade-wise in a class, right behind Kacchan. He was not immune to staring out the window as the end of the term approached though. It wouldn’t be long. Just a few more weeks and he would be starting the Hero Course as the new...

_God of Thunder,_ he thought, squirming a bit. He didn’t like calling himself a god. Even with Thor’s powers, it just wasn’t him. 

“It looks like we have two students in this class who will be entering the heroics course at U.A.” 

This ripped Midoriya’s attention right back to the front of the class. “Bakugou Katsuki,” a few of the blondes friends whooped and made other obnoxious noises, “and Midoriya Izuku.” 

The class was silent for that, save for a few murmurs. While the teasing that came with being Quirkless had stopped, people were avoiding Midoriya for different reasons. It was always different; some were distrustful, claiming that the boy had hidden his Quirk for some reason. Others thought for sure the hammer was just some cool Support Gear that faked the abilities for him. And others just avoided him because they knew talking to him would attract the ire of Bakugou. 

The teacher himself seemed a bit surprised. “Well uh... good job, guys.” 

Class resumed as normal, but Midoriya still was just itching to get home that day. He was the first one out of the door when the bell rang, but no sooner was he outside of the door when Bakugou came up and grabbed his shoulder. “We need to talk, nerd.” 

Despite tensing up at the words, Midoriya turned to look at Bakugou; the command was at a lower decibel then he was accustomed to. “S-sure Kacchan. What’s up?”

Bakugou led Midoriya over to the fence towards the exit of the school. He glanced down to the hammer in Midoriya’s hands - he’d taken to bringing it to school with him. “...quit.” 

“What?!” Izuku replied, eyes widening. 

Bakugou frowned, fists clenched at his sides. “I’m telling you. Quit the Hero Course. Drop out.” 

Midoriya clenched his fists and grit his teeth. His eyes began to water with a mix of frustration and determination. “No.” 

Bakugou pushed him against the fence aggressively. “You can’t -”

That was as far as he got before Midoriya pushed him off. “I will.” He fought back a sniffle. _I have to be crying at a time like this?!_ “I’ve always wanted to be a hero, Kacchan.” His fists clenched at his side. “You know that. You’ve known since we were kids, watching All Might on TV.”

Bakugou opened his mouth to argue back, but Midoriya didn’t let him get a word in. “You aren’t stopping me. I don’t care how many explosions or nasty word you throw at me. This is what I’m meant to do. I know it. I can feel it.” 

Midoriya picked up Mjolnir. “It’s why I was able to save you.” 

Bakugou looked down at the hammer, suspiciously, and back at Deku. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The smaller boy shrugged. “I don’t know... I just...” He rubbed his eyes. “You’re an asshole, Kacchan.”

Bakugou’s eyes widened; not expecting the response. Deku continued while he had the boy off guard. “But I still think of you as my friend. And I wouldn’t have let you die. Because I’m going to be a Hero.” 

Wiping his eyes on his sleeves one last time, Midoriya pushed past Bakugou and walked quickly towards his house. 

For once, Bakugou couldn't seem to find the words, as he stewed in his anger. He clenched his fists at feelings he'd never had before. "How... did I let this happen?" He murmured to his own white knuckles. _Just you wait Deku. I'll show you who the strongest is._

“I’ll never quit,” Midoriya muttered to himself as he stormed off. _I'm not your doormat anymore._  
\---  
That feeling itself carried him through the next few weeks until it was finally time to start UA. Even with the fire in his belly, he felt the same nervousness he’d had before the Entrance Exam as he approached the building itself. Mjolnir in his right hand, he walked briskly towards the front doors. 

Disguised in a hoodie and sunglasses; (though his shaggy beard and shaggier blonde hair still drew some looks), Thor watched from a bus stop. He had no reason to be there, but he couldn’t help himself; having not had kids of his own (that he knew of), there was no stopping him from seeing off his protege on his first day. 

“It’s good to see you again, Thor.”

Thor turned his head slightly, to see All Might looking at him from behind a tree. Disguised in his emaciated form, no one would bother him. “Toshinori,” Thor greeted, curtly. 

“I knew it couldn’t be a coincidence that a certain young man would show up with that hammer if you weren’t involved.” The Symbol of Peace had a much more amicable tone, even giving the King of Asgard a small grin. “You chose wisely.” 

“I always do,” Thort snorted, disdainfully. “You would know. I believe you have a class to teach, All Might.” 

“I do,” All Might agreed, turning towards the school. “Feel free to visit any time. A speech from you would make a great lesson.” 

"Maybe," Thor shrugged. "I'll have to check my schedule. Quite busy, as you know."  
\---

Izuku took a deep breath as he stood outside of Class 1-A. He hadn’t talked to Bakugou since they had argued outside of school weeks ago. _Maybe...maybe he won’t be in this class and I won’t have to worry about it._

He slid open the door and his face fell, almost immediately. Not only was Bakugou there, but Angry-Glasses-Blue-Hair was also there, and they gave looks of disapproval. But before he could let a sinking feeling hit him, he heard a voice call to him, “Bonjour, mon ami!” 

He turned and looked over, jumping back slightly as a blond boy jumped directly in front of him, shaking his hand energetically. “So glad to see you here!” 

It took a second for Midoriya to register that he knew this boy already. Once it hit, he beamed and returned the handshake briefly. “Oh hey! From the entrance exam!” 

“Oui! I realized we were never introduced!” The boy stepped back and placed a hand over his chest. Midoriya couldn’t help but think the man was rather...exuberant in his mannerisms. “Aoyama Yuga.” 

“Midoriya Izuku.”

As he stated his name, he saw a girl with long green hair seated a few desks away turn around. Their eyes met, and he realized it was another familiar face. He waved. “Hey Asui!” 

She smiled and waved back. “Hey Midoriya! I told you to call me Tsuyu!” 

He rubbed the back of his neck, cheeks tinged a bit. “S-sorry! Glad to see the two of you here -WHOA!” 

He’d barely finished the thought before a mop of brown hair was hovering a few inches from his nose; Uraraka had seen him and had charged up. “Hey Midoriya! Looks like we’re in the same class.”

_Looks like you’re REALLY close._ Midoriya gulped, and instinctively looked away and scratched at his cheek to put a little distance between himself and the brunette. “Y-yeah.”

Uraraka took no notice of his discomfort and went on, “I’m so excited! I can’t wait to find out who our homeroom teacher is or what he’s like!” 

They wouldn’t have to find out long; the door slid open and a man walked in. Well, no, this is inaccurate. A man cocooned in a yellow sleeping bag hobbled in, hopping like some sort of upright caterpillar. The sight was so bizarre that everyone in the class froze and watched as this happened, leaving what they suspected to be their teacher staring back at them. “Well?” He grunted. “Get to your seats.” 

This man, as Midoriya and his classmates learned the man was Aizawa Shoto, Eraserhead, a hero who typically rejected the spotlight. A Stealth-base Hero, his Quirk allowed him to erase someone’s Quirk temporarily by looking at them. 

Instead of going to the welcoming assembly, he took them all outside, finally stepping out of his own sleeping bag and into his Hero Costume. This wouldn’t be a problem in and of itself, except that Aizawa revealed his reputation; he expelled students who he felt had no potential, including a whole class last year. This year, in his utmost generosity, he would be holding a Quirk Fitness Test instead.

“...And whoever scores lowest will be expelled.” 

Midoriya glanced around at the other of the students. Why were none of them nervous?!

Using their Quirks in fitness challenges was something he thought might happen, but not with stakes like this. Furthermore, while he had gotten in great shape between the physique Mjolnir granted and a year's worth of intense training, the Quirk itself didn’t help with a ton of these challenges.

Until he got to the Ten Meter Sprint. Before him, Iida and Bakugou faced off. Bakugou used explosions to propel himself forward, falling just short of Iida’s Engine Quirk. All the same, it gave Midoriya an idea. 

Next up, he was facing off against a rather short student made Mineta. The smaller boy looked at Mjolnir and scoffed. “Psth,” he said with an annoying lisp, “The only hammer I need to get girls is the one in my pa-”

Thankfully, he was cut off by Aizawa’s whistle. As Mineta took off running, Midoriya turned around. _Maybe I can’t use Mjolnir to fly, but..._

He jumped into the air, and spun Mjolnir in front of him, creating a large, concentrated air-blast. This propelled him backwards well past the ten meters, and he landed on his butt, looking up at Aizawa, who looked unimpressed as always. “...you tied Iida for top time.”

Midoriya beamed down at his hammer. _Okay...that’s a good sign!_ He sighed with relief as he headed back to the rest of his classmates.

“Good one, kero,” Asui said as she hopped past him to the starting line.

“Thanks!” Midoriya blushed. He was so flustered by the attention, he didn’t notice the death glare Bakugou was giving him with shaking fists. 

The last challenge was using your Quirk to throw a ball. Not too complex, but Midoriya wondered if he could do something similar with the ball like he’d done with running. _Maybe I can throw it straight up and then use an air current? No, probably wouldn’t get enough of a lasting push..._

He watched the others go before him; Bakugou using his explosions to reach over eight hundred meters was impressive, but Uraraka made the ball slowly drift out of orbit to win the challenge completely. 

As Midoriya stepped up to the plate, Aizawa stopped him. “Leave the hammer.” 

This gave the boy pause. “Sir...can I ask why?”

“I’ve only seen you use the lightning and wind with the hammer. This is supposed to be about your Quirk. That could be Support Gear, for all we know.” Aizawa grunted. “Leave the hammer.” 

“The Lightning is just harder to control without the -” Midoriya began, but a glare from the teacher cut him off.

“If you can’t control your Quirk, how can you hope to be a Hero?” Aizawa’s tone was harder. “What if you don’t have it, or something happens to it?” 

Midoriya set Mjolnir down, walked three feet away, and held out his hand, summoning the hammer for demonstration. “The hammer IS part of my Quirk, sir. Nothing can stop it when I summon it.” 

“Try that again,” Aizawa said.

Midoriya did, but as he went to summon the Hammer, Aizawa stared at him, cutting off his Quirk, causing Mjolnir to hit the ground with a thud. “Oh look,” Aizawa sighed, tiredly, “I stopped it.”

Bakugou and Mineta snickered. 

“So, I’m telling you to throw the ball with the hammer a few feet away.” Aizawa grunted. “Or you can leave now.” 

Midorya gulped, set Mjolnir down, and walked up to the plate. He knew he had three tries, but he didn’t want to waste them. Closing his eyes, he clutched the ball, and tried to draw out his inner storm. He threw the ball with this and all his strength combined, but the boost barely got him one hundred meters; on the low end for the class. 

Wordlessly, Aizawa handed Midoriya another ball. Frustration and humiliation churned the contents of Midoriya’s stomach. Lightning sparked around his arms and he heard a few murmurs behind him from classmates. He threw the ball again, and while electrified, this didn’t make the ball go any further than his first attempt. 

“Last one,” Aizawa grunted.

Midoriya panicked briefly. He’d only come in first - tied no less - in one event. He couldn’t mess this one up. But even if he electrified the ball, he couldn’t get it to go further. If he tried to use Mjolnir, Aizawa would stop him.

_This is harder than fighting some dragon and getting them to look away from Mjolnir._ Midoriya lamented, but then he was struck by an idea. 

Lighting might not help him throw the ball, but...

It took a lot of energy and concentration, but he was able to summon a bolt of lightning to strike the ball from the sky. The flash lit up the area, and even Aizawa had to look away.

That was all the opening Midoriya needed to throw the ball straight up into the air, summon Mjolnir, and smash the ball like a bat, knocking it into the distance. 

When Aizawa looked back a second or two later, he saw the hammer at Midoriya’s side, and looked down at his device. 

“Hmm. Nine hundred, seventeen meters,” he read off neutrally. He looked Midoriya up and down slightly. “Well. Good enough. Next.” 

Midoriya breathed a sigh of relief as returned to his classmates blushing as he got a big thumbs up from Asui. After a few more rounds, Aizawa tallied up the scores, revealing the rankings. 

Izuku’s jaw nearly dropped. He was ranked second in the class, right behind Todoroki Shouto, the son of Endeavor. And right under him was... “Kacchan?”

From the other side of the huddle of classmates, Bakugou clenched his fists, humiliated in spite of the high ranking he received. 

He would remember this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might be thinking: "BUT WAIT, NICKTHEHUMAN! HOW COULD AIZAWA HAVE STOPPED DEKU FROM SUMMONING MJOLNIR?"
> 
> Well, if Quirk restraints work on Deku, it builds tension. In this chapter... and possibly later.


	5. Suited for the Task

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Might introduces a Heroes vs. Villains exercise. Will Deku and his new buddy be able to overcome some fearsome foes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a work of fiction, and I own none of the characters.

Midoriya was practically vibrating in his seat as he waited for his afternoon classes. Today was the day, a day he could have only dreamed about since he was a kid.

Today was the day he would be taught by All Might.

He wasn’t the only one excited either. Asui and Uraraka were talking with a group of girls as they waited for the Symbol of Peace to arrive, while Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, and Mineta were arguing about what the coolest feat All Might had ever done was (obviously the fight with Toxic Chainsaw). 

Only Iida, Todoroki and Bakugou were remaining silent, facing forward and staring at the door as they waited. Though, Midoriya noticed that while Iida remained stoic, Todoroki looked almost apprehensive and he couldn’t help but wonder why. 

All thoughts of that flew out the window as the door opened, and All Might himself strutted in, donned in a Silver Age uniform. “GREETINGS STUDENTS OF CLASS 1-A!”

A cheer rose up from the class, and Izuku couldn’t help but laugh and join in. 

All Might crowed about the Hero Training that would begin today, at Ground Beta. There would be a two on two Hero vs. Villain contest. “NOW, FOR ONE OF THE COOLEST PARTS OF HERO SCHOOL,” the Hero crowed, hitting a button on the desk. Rows of Hero costumes emerged from compartments on the wall. “SUIT UP!”

Midoriya looked at the compartment that had his Hero Costume and gulped, remembering a conversation he’d had with Thor just after finding out he’d be admitted to UA.  
\---  
A few weeks prior...  
\---

“So what did you need to see me about today, Thor?” Midoriya asked, walking through the halls of Asgard with his mentor. “More training?” His tone went more serious. “Did something happen to your controller again? I can get it back -”

“No, Midoriya,” Thor laughed. “Nothing like that. Come, you’ll see soon enough.”

Midoriya looked at the art in the halls; murals of Thor in battle with the other warriors of Asgard, portraits of his father, Odin, and their family. Thor never much talked about his family, and while Izuku was naturally curious about where the God of Thunder obtained his abilities, it didn’t seem right to ask. 

Finally, Thor threw open the doors into a room filled with racks of swords, axes, flails, spears, and warhammers. “The armory!” Thor boomed, “One of the greatest of Asgard’s accomplishments.”

“Whoa,” Midoriya’s eyes widened as he looked from one weapon to another, each more powerful than the last, “I-I don’t think I can take these to school. I already had to fill out forms for Mjolnir.”

“Pfft,” Thor scoffed. “You have Mjolnir, you don’t need anything else. You do however, need to look the part of God of Thunder. Come, we’ll suit you up in the back.”

“Oh, like my Hero Costume?!” Midoriya grinned. “My mom had made -”

“We don’t view it so much as a costume,” Thor chuckled, not letting his ward finish. “Furthermore, you need protection. I am a full-blooded Asgardian, which means I am durable. I could go out and adventure in a t-shirt and be none the worse for wear. You could shoot me in the head, and it’d be like a mosquito bite.”

“Whoa...” Midoriya gaped. “Th-that’s amazing.”

“It’s handy,” Thor agreed, “but you are not a full-blooded Asgardian... yet.”

“What do you mean?” Midoriya asked. 

“Wielding Mjolnir does not automatically turn a Midgardian into an Asgardian. As you saw, the hammer gives you a boost to your physical abilities. Puts you in peak physical condition. But to change you into an Asgardian...” Thor thought for a minute. “How did Banner put it? It rewrites who you are. Your genes. It takes a long time.” 

“Wait, so one day, I’ll be bulletproof?!” Midoriya beamed. “That’s awesome!” 

“INDEED!” Thor boomed. “But not yet! And that’s why we’re getting you some armor.” He led Deku back further, into a room with full of armor racks, stacked with leather chest guards and various steel protectors. 

“We are warriors,” Thor continued, “even if in the last few centuries we have used our prowess as keepers of peace. This will be your armor, as a proud Asgardian representative to protect Midgard.”

Midoriya was humbled by the words. “Th-thank you, Thor...that’s really - OW!” The humbling - and his sentence - were stopped as Thor placed a helmet on top of his head. “Er...?”

“This was my helmet when I first joined the Avengers!” Thor beamed. “We’ll get you some chainmail and I’ll see if I can find any leg gear your size...” 

As the King of Asgard walked off and dug through heaps of armor, Midoriya took a step back and looked at the metal, winged helmet on his head. It looked straight from the pictures in the history textbooks that Thor used to wear. “Won’t that weigh me down? Even with Mjolnir’s blessing I’m not as durable as you are as an Asgardian, like you said.”

Thor emerged from the pile and made a “pfft” sound, throw a chainmail shirt on Midoriya’s shoulders. To the boy’s surprise, it felt no different than wearing a normal shirt. “My boy, we craft our weapons and armor from Uru, one of the most durable and amazing metals in existence. Mjolnir itself is the most refined Uru weapon in all of creation, and our armor is enchanted to be as lightweight as it is protective. This shirt alone will catch any blade and protect you from heavy force. Say,” Thor winked, which looked particularly funny considering he only had one eye, “from one of Kachow’s explosions.” 

Midoriya smiled politely; he’d given up on correcting Thor when it came to Bakugou’s name. “That’s pretty cool!” 

Before long, Thor had, perhaps in an homage to himself, dressed Midoriya in armor similar to his own back during his days as an Avenger. But when he went to grab a cape, Midoriya vehemently refused. “Capes have been considered poor choices for Hero suits for decades. They just tend to lead to accidents.” 

“Fair enough,” Thor conceded, stepping back, smiling. “Look at you. You’re the spitting image of myself when I was starting out. You’ll need some combat boots though.” 

“I want to keep mine,” Midoriya immediately insisted. “They’re a gift from my dad before...well...”

A pause followed, filling the air between the two in an awkward silence. Thor, for as boisterous and headstrong as he was, recognized the tension in the room easily. It wasn’t hard for someone who had lost a parent to see the same pain in someone else. “Say no more, Young Midoriya. Is the armor to your liking?”  
\---  
Midoriya cringed, being the last one out of the locker room, and walked over to Ground Beta. He took a shaky breath as he put Thor’s helmet on his head. He hoped this didn’t look too...dated. 

Immediately, Asui noticed him and hopped over. “Hey, Midoriya, kero,” she greeted, straightening herself out. She tapped a finger to her mouth. “I like your suit. It’s pretty retro, kero.” 

Midoriya’s face grew hot as he struggled to find a response. “Th-th-thanks. Y-yours too.” 

She tilted her head a little. “Are you okay?”

He nodded meekly. He was fine and all, but it was hard to focus when Asui’s Hero Costume was...well, very form-fitting. Midoriya shifted slightly in an effort to redirect his blood flow away from his nether-regions. Thankfully, a distraction came in the form of his teacher. 

“NOW THEN!” All Might boomed. “We will split off into pairs! The Villains will go in and locate the nuclear device. After fifteen minutes, I’ll send in the Hero pair. The Heroes job is to take the device from the villains without destroying it - that would set off the explosion. Alternatively, you can capture the villains in Capture Tape, which I will provide. First villain pair will be...Bakugou and Mineta.” 

_Oh shit._ Midoriya thought grimly.

“And the Hero Team to oppose them will be...hmm...” All Might scanned around. “Sero Hanta and...you, there! Midoriya Izuku.” 

Before Midoriya could scan along the room for his partner, a rather plain looking boy with some big elbows approached him. “Hey man! Glad to be working with you. I’m Sero.” 

Midoriya shook his hand. “You too. So, let’s talk strategy. What’s your Quirk?”

“Heh, all business with you, huh?” Sero snickered, holding up his arm. “I shoot an extra strength tape from my elbows here. It’s useful for swinging around and capturing people.” He rubbed the back of his neck, confidence waning a bit, “Although, if I use it too much, the adhesive gets kinda weaker.” 

Midoriya gave him a big grin. “That’s an awesome Quirk! Mobility and Capture potential? That leaves for so many pragmatic uses!” 

“Thanks man, but that’s got nothing on your Quirk there!” He pointed at Mjolnir. “Wind AND lighting, and it comes with the sweet weapon? You could whangdoodle someone real good. Bonk ‘em into next week.” 

Midoriya laughed, having never heard anyone his age describe his abilities in such a... lax way. “Yeah. Not everyone’s a fan though.” His eyes darted over to Bakugou briefly, but long enough for Sero to notice.” 

“Blondie?” The black-haired boy asked. “Yeah he’s always shooting you nasty looks. What’s up with that?” 

“We... went to school together. I guess you could say he’s not a fan of me ever since I found...” Midoriya paused, thinking of a way to finish that sentence, “my Quirk.” 

“A battle between rivals?!” Sero pumped his elbows back in an excited stance. “Oh man, I’m fired up to be part of this. Are you the Sasuke or the Naruto?”

“Wha...?” 

“Nevermind, you’re too friendly and quiet to be either of them,” Sero laughed. 

“Th-thanks?” Midoriya replied. “Anyway, let’s stick together. If I can stun them long enough with Mjolnir or lightning, you can probably capture them pretty quickly.” 

“Whap ‘em and wrap ‘em!” Sero cried, “Love it.” 

“Er... yeah.”  
\---

Fifteen minutes or so later, Sero and Midoriya were scouring the halls of the Ground Beta building, working from the ground level up in search of Mineta and Bakugou. 

As they searched, the two faux-villains paced around the realistic missile they were tasked to guard. Bakugou seemed especially twitchy. 

“You okay man?” Mineta asked, eyebrow raised. “Or are you just in character?” 

“It’s that shitty Deku!” Bakugou barked. “I know that stupid bullshit with the hammer isn’t a Quirk.”

“Pfshfbt,” Mineta scoffed, “it’s dorky, but come on. You saw him take down that giant robot. Saved Uraraka’s luscious body, lucky bastard.” 

“I knew that weak little shrimp for fifteen years, you idiot,” the taller boy scowled. “Totally Quirkless. Then he just...shows up with some stupid hardware store garbage and thinks he owns the place. Thinks he’s BETTER THAN ME!” Bakugou punched a wall. “HE’S ALWAYS THOUGHT HE WAS BETTER THAN ME!” 

Mineta backed off a bit. “Hey man, you’ll give away our location -”

“I don’t give a shit!” Bakugou growled, storming off. “I’m going to end this NOW!” 

Once the explosively foul-mouthed teen had left the room, Mineta shook his head. “Dude needs some therapy so we he can be as smooth and well-adjusted as me.”  
\---

Midoriya and Sero had made their way up another few floors, the clock ticking down on them as they ascended. 

“Where could they be hiding?” Sero sighed, losing some of his earlier enthusiasm. “Bakugou doesn’t exactly strike me as the type to sit around and wait.” 

Midoriya nodded, apprehension growing because he was thinking the same thing. They had heard some commotion above, and went up a few floors to find their opponents, but things had gone eerily quiet since then. 

Until he turned a corner and saw a spark. “GET BACK!” He shouted, leaping backwards as Sero did the same. An explosion rocked the corridor, denting the wall. 

“You got lucky, you shitty Deku!” 

Midoriya spun Mjolnir by his side, Sero backing up to give the rivals some room. He knew how Bakugou fought; the two had grown up together after all. Bakugou was lunging, upper body forward for a frontal assault.

_How he starts every fight,_ Midoriya confirmed to himself. 

Bakugou’s eyes drifted down to Mjolnir, and Midoriya struck; he stepped forward and threw a left-handed jab directly into Bakugou’s nose during the momentary distraction.  
\---  
A few days prior...  
\---

“Your punches are sloppy and slow!” Valkyrie grunted, holding up her own fists to spar. “And you kick like an infant in the womb! I don’t think you’re going to be fighting snails, young Midoriya.” 

Midoriya motioned for a time out, panting. “It’s hard to throw punches and kicks while holding Mjolnir. Shouldn’t I be trying to hit you with it, and not everything else?” 

Thor, who was watching from the sidelines of the Asgardian training hall, shook his head. “You hit things with the hammer fine. But, that teacher of yours you told me about, Eraser Face, makes a point. You need to be able to fight without. And still, Mjolnir has a purpose you haven’t used much.”

“What’s that?” Midoriya asked, turning to his mentor. Which, at that moment, Valkyrie tackled him to the ground.

“Diversion.”  
\---  
Present Day  
\---

Bakugou staggered backwards, clutching his nose in shock and pain from the sneak jab. “WHY YOU -”

That was as far as he got before Midoriya sent a bolt of lightning into his chest, zapping Bakugou and forcing him back against the wall. In an instant, Sero ran forward to apprehend Bakugou with his tape.

But the explosive blonde recovered quicker than either of his opponents expected, thrusting his hand forward and igniting a blast that threw the tape-themed Hero back. Quickly, Sero shot a line at the ceiling and swung backwards out of range. 

Bakugou lunged forward with more explosions, but Midoriya spun Mjolnir to blow the smoke and fire back towards Bakugou, creating a smokescreen. “Let’s regroup,” he grunted to Sero, and the two took off down and around the corner.

“Sorry man, I wasn’t quick enough,” Sero panted as soon as they were out of earshot.

“No, I think I might have held back too much,” Midoriya admitted. “I’ve never thrown a lot of electricity at humans so I’m still figuring out how much is enough.” He glanced behind them. “Look, I know we had a plan, but I think Kacchan is out to get me. Go on ahead, I’ll keep him busy.” 

“No problem! Just leave it to me!” Sero beamed, taking off the opposite way, using his tape to swing around the corner.

“Okay...” Midoriya sighed, slowing his breathing down to listen to his surroundings. When he didn’t hear anyone charging after him, he figured Bakugou must have looped around to catch him by surprise. 

Suddenly, he heard running from the corridor over to the side of him. Midoriya spun Mjolnir and made his way down the hallway...but the footsteps were gone. He heard running from where he had just been, sending a chill up his spine. _What is he doing?_ He wondered to himself as he doubled back.

As he turned the corner, he saw him. Bakugou looked disheveled, but Midoriya stood firm, waiting for his approach. 

But Bakugou didn’t approach; instead, he grinned madly. “What, you thought these stupid looking things on my arms were for show?” 

Deku wasn’t given a chance to think about this before Bakugou pointed his arm in his direction and unleashed an explosion bigger than Deku had ever seen before. The entire corridor was engulfed in the blast, and Midoriya didn’t even have time to try and divert the blast with Mjolnir before he was swallowed up as well. The force from the explosion pushed him into the wall, which caved and broke, leaving him lying backwards on a fire escape.

“That... suuuuuuuuucked.” He groaned, before roling himself to his stomach and getting up on all fours. He could hear the entire building beginning to groan from the strain placed on it. 

Before either could continue, a voice rang out from the speakers within the building. “Bakugou! That force could have realistically set off the bomb! One more blast like that your team will be disqualified.” 

Bakugou sneered. “I don’t have enough sweat built up for that anyway.”

“Sweat?” Midoriya asked. Then he looked down at the gauntlets Bakugou was wearing. “Oh... I see... you store sweat in there for bigger blasts, don’t you?” 

“KNOWING WON’T HELP YOU, YOU SHIT!”

Bakugou propelled himself forward with this explosions, but Midoriya was ready now. He threw Mjolnir at Bakugou, who ducked. Midoriya summoned the hammer back, forcing Bakugou to duck again. But this was what Midoriya wanted; he charged forward to meet the hammer, grabbed it, and swung it upwards into Bakugou’s stomach as he stood up. The blonde was sent flying backwards, landing on his rear with the wind knocked out of him. 

Midoriya shot a blast of lightning at Bakugou, but now it was the taller boy’s turn to be ready; using an explosion, Bakugou propelled himself off the ground and back away from the electric attack. 

Deku didn’t let up; he threw bolt after bolt, pushing Bakugou back and giving him no openings to retake the offensive. 

“Hey, Midoriya? Do you copy?” Sero asked through the headset. “We uh...ran into a problem.”

Over the explosions and crackling of lightning, Midoriya didn’t hear his teammate, unfortunately.  
\---  
One floor above...  
\---  
Mineta, who was wrapped in tape around a pillar, looked to Sero, whose feet and legs were stuck to the floor with some of his sticky balls. 

“Any luck?” Mineta asked with a sigh. 

“Nope,” Sero groaned. “Looks like we’re stuck until the match is finished or one of our teammates finishes the whole thing.” 

“Great. Just great.” Mineta pouted.

The two teens looked around the room for a moment, before Sero laid back against the floor in defeat. “So... uh, how’s it going?”  
\---  
One floor down...  
\--  
Midoriya had driven Bakugou back into an open room. 

“...can you hear me?” 

Ducking back a bit, he checked his ear piece. “Sero, is that you?”

“There you are!” Sero’s voice answered, sounding relieved. “The bomb is right above you in the open room! Did you deal with Bakugou?” 

Something bounced off the floor towards Midoriya, and his eyes widened. 

In addition to storing sweat for bigger blasts...his suit also was good for grenades.

But Midoriya was a quick thinker. As the grenade bounced towards him, he swung Mjolnir low and bat the explosive back towards Bakugou. Bakugou had no time to react, and his own explosion rocked him backwards into the wall. 

Seizing the opportunity, Midoriya sent a bigger lightning blast directly into Bakugou’s chest. Once he had stopped convulsing, the blonde collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

“THIRTY SECOND WARNING!” All Might’s voice rang out.

“Damn!” Midoriya grunted, before getting an idea. 

All the open areas were in the same space on each floor. That meant the bomb had to be right above him. 

“Sero, that bomb isn’t in the middle of the room, is it?” 

“What? No.” Sero replied.

Running over to Bakugou, Midoriya grabbed one of the grenades off his belt. Smacking to towards the ceiling with Mjolnir, it exploded, opening a hole to the next floor. 

Jumping into the air, Midoriya fired an airblast at the ground, launching himself up through the hole. He breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t disturbed the bomb. Or Sero or Mineta, still caught in each others traps for that matter. Landing, he quickly ran over to the bomb and tagged it. 

“THE HERO TEAM WINS!” All Might’s voice yelled out over the speaker. 

“AAAAWWWWW YYYEEEEAAAAAHHH!” Sero shouted happily. “Suck it, Mineta!” 

“YOU’RE TRAPPED JUST LIKE ME!” Mineta yelled back.

Midoriya himself just collapsed on the ground and stared down at Mjolnir. A small smile crept over his lips. 

He’d done it. 

He’d overcome Bakugou for the first time in his life. 

He placed a hand over the chainmail on his stomach. 

"Hey Midoriya?" Sero called. "Not to ruin the moment, but please get these gross balls off me."

"THEY AREN'T GROSS!" Mineta screamed.


	6. The Past Looking to the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor gets called to meet with an Earth acquaintance, and Class 1-A takes a trip to the USJ. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fan work and I own nothing.

“So you zapped him and stole a grenade?” Thor laughed as he met Midoriya outside of his apartment. “That’ll show Kachow to underestimate you! Good work, Midoriya.”

Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed at the praise. “It was rough. He really stepped up his game to get me. But...is that why you’re here? Usually you don’t just show up.” _You summon me out of nowhere instead with a random lightning bolt._

Truth be told, Deku didn’t mind this approach. 

Thor shook his head. “Well, no. Though I’m always glad to hear your class exploits have gone well. I was actually summoned by a Midgard acquaintance for some business. Thought I’d see how your battle gear held up.” 

“If it weren’t for that enchanted chainmail, I’d probably have been knocked out when I got blown through the wall,” the teen admitted. “So it definitely was helpful. And it didn’t slow me down at all.” 

“Oh, Thor!” Said a feminine voice from a few feet away. 

The two turned to see Midoriya’s mother Inko was standing at the landing of the apartment complex to get the mail. “Good to see you! Would you like to join us for dinner?”

Thor smiled but shook his head. “I’m afraid I’m just stopping by. Perhaps another time though; your cooking has captured my tongue as I’m sure your beauty catches many an eye.”

Deku looked at Thor uncomfortably. “Are you...flirting with my mom?”

Inko just laughed. “You flatterer. The door's always open.” 

As she left, Deku met his mentor's gaze. “Y-you can’t just flirt with my mom in front of me!” 

“Got it. Come by and flirt with her when you aren’t around,” Thor smirked, “I’m afraid I must be going now. Take care, Midoriya, I will see you soon.” 

Deku just shook his head as Thor walked off. “Gross.”  
\---  
About half an hour later, with the halls of UA mostly emptied, Thor made his way to the staff office and knocked. 

“Come in,” a pleasant voice answered. 

Thor entered, as requested, and saw All Might there with Principal Nezu. “Toshinori,” he greeted coldly, and then turned to the Principal, whom he had never met before. “Panda,” he added with a small bow of politeness. 

“Actually, I’m a mouse,” Nezu corrected, “but you can call me Principal Nezu. I oversee this fine establishment.” 

“Principal Nezu of the Pandas,” Thor corrected himself with another small bow. 

“Anyway,” Nezu continued, deciding to ignore the urge to correct Thor further, “All Might here has requested my assistance in explaining the situation to you. I’ve come to understand that one of our students doesn’t possess a Quirk. Instead, he’s inherited your unique abilities as God of Thunder.” 

“Apparently All Might doesn’t possess the ability not to spill secrets,” Thor snarked. 

“Principal Nezu has my utmost confidence, and has been keeping a secret on my behalf,” All Might explained. 

“Furthermore, with the abilities and costume similarities, there have been rumors going around already,” Nezu added. “While neither of you have made the knowledge of it public, it’s only a matter of time before the two of you are linked by anyone with a passing knowledge of the History of Heroics. I saw it halfway through day one, and I'm sure rumors are going around already.” 

“Fair enough,” Thor conceded. “Midoriya has not wanted to announce it yet, however, and I respect his wishes in doing so. Is that why I was summoned?” 

“Well, no,” All Might sighed. “Look, Thor, I know how you feel about me. But since you’ve chosen a successor... I was hoping to get your thoughts on choosing one of my own.”  
\---  
As Deku walked into school the next day, he was surprised that Aizawa was there on time. He checked the time on his phone just to be sure and saw he had a few minutes before the bell rang. Sitting down at his desk, he set Mjolnir down as he always did. 

He was tapped on the shoulder, and turned to see Iida standing here. Midoriya tried not to gulp; despite the fact that neither of them had butt heads since the remark he made at the entrance exam, Midoriya still found him to be a bit intimidating. “What’s up, Iida?”

To his surprise, Iida bowed abruptly. “I would like to apologize for the attitude I had given you previously, and some admitted feelings of disdain.”

Midoriya blinked. “Uh...?”

“You see,” Iida said, straightening himself up. “After the exam, I thought maybe you had some insider information about taking out the Zero Pointer that gave you an edge in the standings. But... I see now that I was wrong. You were simply doing the right thing by saving another examinee, even if it was against your best interests.”

“Oh,” Deku said, unsure of what else to add. 

“It seems you had the heroic spirit the school was looking for,” Iida sighed. “I feel I could learn a lot from you and would like it if we could start over.” He held out his hand stiffly for a businessman-like handshake.

Midoriya grinned and shook the taller boys hand. “Sure thing, Iida. Don’t even worry about it. I just got lucky.” 

That conversation began what turned out to be a VERY eventful day in Midoriya Izuku’s life; Midoriya got elected class president (it turns out Iida, Uraraka, and Asui all voted for him), there was a lockdown due to suspected break in, Iida managed to calm the student body down, and Midoriya decided to give the position of class president to Iida. 

As he walked home with Asui, Uraraka, and Iida, he hoped this would be the most eventful day of the term; it was a lot of excitement.

Of course, it wouldn’t be.   
\---  
A few days later, the class was abuzz at their newest bout of Hero Training. 

“So we’ll be going to the USJ, an offsite facility, for Rescue Training.” Aizawa sighed. “Gear up in your Hero suits, and we’ll hop on the bus. You have fifteen minutes.” 

There was a clattering of seats scraping as the students began talking amongst themselves. Uraraka, Asui, and Iida all gathered around Midoriya as they walked to the changing rooms outside the class. 

“I’ve been waiting for Rescue Training!” Uraraka squealed. “Who do you think will be teaching it?” 

“Whoever it is, we must be sure to absorb as much knowledge as we can from their years of experience and expertise,” Iida said, grabbing his suit. 

“Don’t act like you aren’t excited, kero.” Asui snarked flatly. “What do you think Midoriya?” 

The green-haired boy shrugged, but couldn’t contain his grin. He even held up his notebook. “Whoever it is, I can’t wait to see their Quirk in person.” 

“Just try not to mutter,” Asui teased, causing him to blush.

Minutes later, as they all sat on the bus, Deku sat next to Asui and set Mjolnir down on the bus floor. 

“Hey, Midoriya, can I ask you something about your Quirk, kero?” Asui asked. 

“Oh. Sure, what’s up Asu - I mean Tsu?”

Asui tapped a finger to her mouth and looked from him to Mjolnir. “You know, it makes me think of all the old Avengers stuff they teach in History of Heroics. Isn’t it a lot like that viking guy?”

Midoriya shifted uncomfortably. “O-oh yeah. I thought that too when it first manifested. Just like Thor.” He was hoping that would be enough to throw her off, but their conversation caught the attention of Kirishima, who was sitting on the other side of him. 

“Oh yeah, didn’t that guy use a hammer too?” The redhead asked. Thankfully, he changed the topic rather quickly, “I wish I had a cool flashy Quirk like yours instead of this lame hardening.” He stiffened his fist for show. “It’ll be hard to get noticed in the Hero business like this.” 

“I think your Quirk is awesome,” Midoriya said, voice clear with sincerity. “It’s really powerful! I don’t think you’d have any problem.” 

“You mean it?” Kirishima beamed. “Thanks, dude!” 

“Yeah, but it’s not as powerful as Midoriya’s old school Avenger powers, Todoroki’s Quirk, or Bakugou’s explosions,” Kaminari piped in from the other side of Asui. He chuckled a bit. “But I don’t know how Bakugou would ever be popular with that nasty attitude.” 

Bakugou, who had heard this from the back of the bus, scowled. “SHUT UP! YOUR QUIRK IS JUST A SHITTY, WATERED DOWN VERSION OF DEKU’S!” 

As bickering continued, Midoriya breathed a sigh of relief. He knew eventually the link between himself and Thor would be made clear. He just wasn’t sure how he wanted to go about it.

The students arrived in short matter of time, and were excited - Uraraka especially - to find out they would be learning from one of the top Rescue Heroes out there, Thirteen. 

As she began lecturing, Midoriya pulled out his notebook and began taking meticulous notes, trying to ignore Uraraka practically bouncing next to him in excitement. He was so good at ignoring the outside stimulus he at first didn’t realize his classmates were shouting until Asui started tapping him on the shoulder. “Hm?”

He looked up from his notebook to see a swirling purple and black portal opening far down below in the open area of the USJ . “Is this... is this part of the exercise?” He asked, nervously. 

A few members of the group of people began laughing maniacally.

"I'm going to guess no." Asui ribbited.

Midoriya stepped forward to get a better look only to be stopped as Aizawa threw an arm out in front of the boy.

“Something’s wrong.” Aizawa grunted. 

A hush fell over Class 1-A as Aizawa and Thirteen exchanged glances. After a silent exchange, Aizawa nodded. “You protect the class. I’ll handle this.”

“But sir,” Iida objected, “aren’t you a stealth hero? Going up against a large crowd like this would put you at a tactical disadvantage. As class president I -”

“As class president, you watch and learn,” Aizawa commanded, pulling a pair of goggles down over his eyes and dashing down the hill in front of him.

The class watched in awe as Aizawa took down villain after villain. Despite their numbers, there was no coordination in their assault. 

Still, Aizawa couldn’t get every single one; thugs and villains began scaling the hills after the class, and Thirteen turned to the crowd. “Out! We need to leave!” 

“Oh, I think not.” A deep voice boomed out, forming a dark swirl over the group. It was the same kind that had brought all the villains in in the first place, and it had happened so quickly, most of the class couldn’t help but jump. 

It all happened before Midoriya could grab Mjolnir at his side; a portal opened up under the two of them, and the world was plunged into darkness. The light returned, and all Midoriya could tell was that he was falling. 

SPLASH!

Falling into the water, apparently. 

Struggling to keep his eyes open, he righted himself and prepared to summon Mjolnir, but he saw some guy with a Shark head zooming towards him. And with the way he was snapping his jaws, Deku was pretty sure this wasn’t a rescuer. 

Millions of panicked half-strategies began to fly through his head as he desperately tried to prepare some lightning in his body - a terrible idea in the water, admittedly, but he was saved from the situation as Asui came rocketing through the water and dropkicked the villain in the side of the head. 

“Hey Midoriya!” She blubbed through the lake water. Deku gave a small wave. She stuck her tongue out, wrapped it around his waist, and swam up towards the surface. In midair, she deposited Deku on the side of a ferry, and began scaling the side of the boat herself. 

As Midoriya caught his breath laying on the side of the boat, he breathed a sigh of relief. Man... Tsuyu is really good at coming to my rescue, huh?

He stood up to see the girl in question hop over the railing. “Was anyone else under there?” Midoriya asked. 

Tsuyu shook her head. “No, kero. I even did a quick lap before spotting you. It’s just us.”

“You had time to do a lap under there?” He asked, bewildered. 

She nodded. “I might not be that fast on ground, but you should see me in the water. Perks of the Frog Quirk, kero.” 

The two looked down to see the Shark-headed villain, and other similarly themed aquatic thugs poking their heads out of the water, staring up at the students on the boat. 

“What are they doing, kero?” Tsuyu asked. 

Midoriya stared down and looked from villain to villain. He could hear shouts and the sound of fighting in the distance, but all the villains in this lake were just staring up at Deku and Tsuyu in anticipation.

“Wait...” Midoriya muttered, something in his mind clicking. “They’re waiting to see what they do. Which means...”

“Which means what?” Tsuyu asked.

“They don’t know what we can do!” His eyes lit up almost excitedly. “Which gives us the element of surprise.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Midoriya lifted his hand, grinning. In a moment, Mjolnir had snapped into his open palm. “These guys must not know all of our Quirks. If they did, why would they put someone whose main powers are electricity and aquatic-based in an aquatic area?”

“Kero, oh right!” Asui said, placing her finger to her chin. “They could have put me in the tundra area or fire zone, I’d be next to useless there.” She looked over the side of the railing. “We’re still surrounded and outnumbered though.”

“Yeah, we probably shouldn’t stick around for a fight like this,” Deku admitted, rubbing his chin. “Still...there’s got to be a way we can get to the shore. Think you could jump there?” 

“Maybe. But even if I jump carrying you, they’ll have no trouble catching up, kero.” 

“Alright... argh, I know I can think of something!” Deku groaned, squatting down and entering, “mutter mode.”

“Kinda creepy, kero, but if it helps you think, go for it.”   
\---

The sound of explosions rang out from the quarry area as Bakugou wasted no time exploding any random thug who dared approach him. And as some tried to run away, they got stuck on Mineta’s sticky balls. At which point, Bakugou would explode them anyway. Or, if he was closer, their classmate Kirishima would knock them out with his Hardening Quirk. 

“I DON’T NEED ANY HELP FROM YOU EXTRAS!” Bakugou screamed over his own angst-explosions. 

“Excuse me, I’ve trapped about half of the guys you’ve blown up,” Mineta scowled. 

Kirishima ran up and punched a thug with Chainsaw Hands (known on the streets as Chainsaw Hands, oddly enough), in the face. “I’m only two knockouts behind you!” 

“Just finish these guys off so we can get back to that portal asshole!” Bakugou shouted as he unleashed two full-force explosions at some Freaky Fish Guys. 

“Jeez, did you need our help or not?!” Mineta groaned, beginning to bleed lightly as he pulled more sticky balls from his head.   
\---  
“So, kero, how sure are you about this plan on a scale of one to one hundred?” Tsuyu asked, crouching right behind the railing of the boat. .

Midoriya stopped and thought, spinning Mjolnir out of nervous habit. “One to one hundred?"

Tsuyu nodded.

"Uh... I’d say maybe forty-six?”

Tsuyu made a croaking noise. “Well, better than anything I can come up with.” 

Without warning, the boat rocked violently. The two looked over the side of the ship to see some of the villains had gotten impatient, and were trying to make the vessel sink. 

“We’re out of time.” Deku grimaced. “Ready?”

Tsuyu nodded, ready to leap off the railing. 

Midoriya took a deep breath, and stepped onto the railing of the boat before jumping as high into the air as a God of Thunder could - which was pretty high, all things considered. He sent an airblast downward at the water, making a divet in the lake which both propelled him upward, and caused the villains to get pulled in together.

I really hope this doesn’t kill anyone, Midoriya gulped, flipping himself after he had burst himself into the air. He pointed Mjolnir straight down and sent a blast of lightning into the water. 

As the bolt zoomed downwards, Asui jumped onto the railing and made a flying leap towards the shore. She wrapped her tongue around Midoriya’s waist and pulled him into her as the lightning struck the surface of the water, sending an electric current through the lake, zapping every villain in it. 

This worked on one level; every villain in the water stopped moving. However, as Asui began to descend, it was clear they weren’t going to make it all the way to the shore, and the water still seemed to be electrified. _I can't let her get zapped!_ Midoriya panicked.

Thinking quickly, Midoriya turned to Tsuyu, wrapped his left arm around her waist, and blasted another air current behind them in mid air. He let Mjolnir fall to the ground as the two were propelled forward through the air, and held onto her tightly. As they approached the ground, he turned their bodies so that he hit the ground first, and the two bounced and rolled through the bushes, away from the lake.

When they finally stopped moving, the two had rolled with Asui on top of Deku, just as when they had first hit the ground. Deku groaned in pain, but thankfully his enchanted chainmail had absorbed a good deal of the impact. “Ugh...are you okay, Asui?”

He looked up at her as she lifted her head off of him, and realized that, while a bit scraped up, the most noticeable thing about her was how red her face had become. And it wasn’t until how noticing how large her eyes were up close to his that Midoriya realized she - a girl in a skin tight outfit - was laying right on top of him. His face promptly turned a bright red as well.

Asui tried to answer him, but when she opened her mouth, an odd ribbit noise was made instead, prompting her to slap a hand over her mouth. 

“A-are y-y-you alright?” Deku repeated, avoiding eye contact.

She nodded, meekly. “I’m... I’m going to get off you now, kero. This is a little embarrassing.” 

Midoriya couldn’t help but agree as she got up. He got to his feet as well, and summoned Mjolnir. The two left the brush and trees and looked back out at the lake, confirming they had not been pursued further; all the villains were still floating motionless in the water. 

“We should get out of here, and go for help, kero.” Asui suggested, pulling Deku’s sleeve. “No alarms have gone off, and we need to alert someone from the school.”

“R... right,” Midoriya nodded, but looked over towards the entrance where Aizawa had been fighting. “We need to check on Aizawa first. We can’t just leave him there alone either.”

“Are you crazy?! We’re no match for all those villains!” Asui said. “The best thing we could do is get reinforcements!” 

“No, I know,” Midoriya conceded, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just want to make sure he’s not... you know...”

Asui’s expression, while still stoic, softened slightly. “Kero... okay. Good point. We’ll peak. But we should stay hidden.”

Midoriya agreed, and the two took off towards the center of the USJ.


	7. The League of Villains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midoriya catches his first glimpse of the leader of The League of Villains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork. 
> 
> HUZZAH!

The last year of Midoriya’s life was full of surprises; finding Mjolnir, becoming the inheritor of the God of Thunder Title, getting into UA... all things that would have surprised him if he could hop into a time machine and tell a younger version of himself. 

Surprises, however, are not always good. So when he and Asui peaked over the side of the terrain from a pond to see Mr. Aizawa getting absolutely thrashed by a great, hulking brute, Midoriya filed this one under, “incredibly unpleasant surprise.” 

This creature, with skin black as coal, towered over Eraserhead, and was seemingly immune to his gaze. Midoriya knew immediately that it’s Quirk must have been mutative in nature for that to be the case, but the knowledge did nothing to numb the shock of what he was seeing. Aizawa, laying against the ground, having his face repeatedly slammed into the dirt by this monstrosity. 

Next to the monstrous... thing, was a boy somewhat older than the two of them. A creepy boy, at that; he was covered in hands that were gripped all over him, including one that was latched onto his face. Stringy white haired surrounded the rest of his features, and he stared down at Aizawa.

“I always thought you were so cool, Eraserhead.” 

He over, and as his bare hands touched Aizawa’s goggles, they disintegrated away in his fingers. Midoriya had to hold in a gasp. The ability to rot away something at your touch was about as deadly as Quirks could get. He'd take notes if it wasn't terrifying.

_Is that thing even human?!_ Midoriya wondered, eyes darting around frantically as he sank into the water. _Where are the teachers?! Why aren’t any alarms going off?!_

He glanced over to see Asui looking almost as freaked out as he was. “This looks bad... We need to get out of here,” she whispered. 

“Yeah, you scrubs shouldn’t be here.” 

Midoriya and Tsuyu both jumped back as the creepy boy stared down at them; he must have noticed and walked over.

“Those weaklings couldn’t even get rid of level one noobs like you?” Creepy Hand Boy scoffed. “What a complete waste of my time...”

Deku and Tsuyu both backed up slightly in the water, Midoriya gripping Mjolnir tightly. 

“Well, doesn’t matter,” the creep snickered. “It’s game over for you. Let’s see...”

He reached a hand - his own - forward, and a small portal opened up. Reaching through, his hand appeared directly over Asui’s head. “You first.” 

Midoriya could see it unfolding in his head; Tsuyu just decomposing into dust and blowing away before his eyes. Immediately, his feet sprang into motion, and he jumped from the water, swinging his hammer towards Handy-Man’s head. As he did, the monstrous Quirk user ran from Aizawa’s limp body and charged towards Deku.

“Midoriya!” Asui cried, forgetting all her concern for her own well being, and shooting her tongue towards Deku to reel him away. 

Neither were successful in this endeavor, either. As Midoriya swung, Mjolnir smashed into the side of the monstrous creature, who did not budge. Asui wrapped her tongue around Midoriya’s midsection, and pulled him back just as the white-haired teen grabbed her head...

... and nothing happened. 

The villain turned away and glared angrily to Aizawa had lifted his head, stopping his Quirk. Frustrated, he stood up. “Heh... Eraserhead... you just have to be so cool, don’t you?” He turned to the hulking beast, which was still peering down at the two students in the water. “Nomu... finish him off.” 

Midoriya and Asui backed away into the water, hearts pounding at their near-brush with death. 

But then, a triumphant voice rang out across the USJ. For elsewhere in the dome, Iida had been successful in escaping and getting help. 

“STUDENTS! FEAR NOT! FOR I! AM! HERE!”

Everyone froze and turned towards the entrance, the villains stepping towards Aizawa in surprise.. All Might, flanked by various other U.A. Teachers, charged the USJ. All Might himself took one flying leap, and landed in front of the pond with a loud crash.

“Young Midoriya and Young Asui,” All Might boomed, turning his head slightly towards the two in the pond. He shifted his body so that he was between the villains and the students. “Thank you for holding them off. Please get your teacher to safety. I can handle this.” 

The gravity of the situation hit Deku once he realized that for the first time, All Might was not wearing his trademark grin. He was playing for keeps.

Asui, still with her tongue around Deku, pulled him out of the water and released him. The two wasted no time picking up their teacher as carefully as possible, and began carrying him away from the battlefield. Not long, they could hear the sounds of a battle raging on. 

As they approached the entrance, Midoriya couldn’t shake a lingering thought though. All Might had steam coming off him as they had left. 

If he’d never met All Might before attending UA, he might not have taken notice of it. But that wasn't the case; he had met All Might in the past, and became privy to All Might’s horrible secret. 

_If he’s running out of time..._ Midoriya bit his lip as he helped Asui carry Aizawa. “Hey, Asui...can you get Aizawa out of here?”

She paused at the request, and looked back at him, her already large eyes widened a bit. “Kero! What do you mean? You’re not thinking of going back, are you?”

“Those guys were dangerous,” Midoriya said, quietly but firmly. “If All Might needs back up, I think I might be able to help him.”

Asui looked at him, debating whether to let him go, or to grab him with her tongue and restrain him for being insane. “Well... you do have the coolest powers out of the class...” 

In any other instance, Deku would be blushing, but he insisted further, “You saw me hit that thing with my hammer. If it some negates physical attacks, All Might could be in trouble. I can provide distance support with lightning.” 

Tsuyu frowned, but turned and shifted to carry Aizawa on her back. “Please be careful, kero.” 

“Right!” Midoriya agreed, and turned to take back off towards the battlefield, heart pounding in his ears already. His knees shook; this was the real deal. 

Only once had he thwarted an attempt on his life, and that was a test more than anything else...  
\---  
Months prior...  
\---  
Deku approached the throne of Asgard, having been summoned via lightning bolt again. He was a bit surprised; usually Thor greeted him right away, but this time the King of Asgard was sitting on his throne, staring down at the boy expectantly. 

And Midoriya couldn’t shake the feeling that something about Thor was different. But what? Same eyepatch, same beard, same everything... why did his mentor seem different as he approached the throne of Asgard. 

“Young Midoriya, there are matters we need to discuss,” Thor said with an even tone, but his smile seemed rather hollow. 

“Is everything okay?” 

“Indeed, we just need to discuss your schooling. Come, walk with me. Leave the hammer. You don’t need it at the moment.”

This gave Midoriya even further pause. He always had Mjolnir with him, especially in Asgard. Still, he respected Thor and set Mjolnir down, and the two began walking towards a side hall. 

It was only when Midoriya looked at Thor, who was on his right hand side, did he realize what was wrong. 

Thor was missing his right eye. But when looking at the left-hand profile of this Thor, the eye patch was on the left. 

At the realization, the fake Thor slid a knife from his sleeve and lunged for the boy’s throat. Midoriya raised his hand, summoned Mjolnir, and was only just barely able to swing his hammer, and knocked the blade from Thor’s hand. 

“WHO ARE YOU?!” Midoriya shouted, jumping back and swinging his hammer.

But the mood shifted as he heard a bellowing laughter and applause from the side hallway. Thor - the real Thor with his eyepatch over his right eye - walked out, clapping. 

Midoriya looked back at the imposter Thor, and watched as he appeared to melt into a new figure; an older man clad in a green robe. While his hair was long and black, there was plenty of strands of gray mixed in, thought a horned helmet was covering it. 

“See, brother?” Thor laughed, walking over to Midoriya and the fake, “I told you he’d see right through your illusions.” 

“Pfft,” scoffed the robed man, “I nearly had the boy’s neck. Besides. I gave him an easy one.”

“What...?” Midoriya uttered, completely flabbergasted by the ruse, before his eyes widened and the realization set in. “Wait a minute... ARE YOU LOKI?!”

“Yes, I - what are you doing?” Loki asked, bewildered, as Midoriya pulled a tattered notebook from his pocket and flipped to an old page. 

“I have so many questions about your magic and illusions!” Midoriya asked, excitedly, showing Loki all of his notes from years past. “You were like the coolest villain in Quirks history!” 

Thor just smiled and shook his head as Loki puffed up his chest in arrogance; he had a feeling Midoriya would win him over pretty easily.   
\---  
Present day  
\---

Midoriya peeked through the bushes at the battle scene, deciding the element of surprise was the best weapon at his disposal. To his surprise, he found he wasn’t the only student who had come to assist All Might. 

All Might had hit the monster - which Creepy Hands had named Nomu - with a picture perfect German Suplex with a bridge. Any pro wrestling commentator would surely be beside themselves at such wonderful form, declaring it a slobberknocker. And when the move landed, a sheet of ice had enclosed the Nomu, leading back to its source, Todoroki. _When did he get here?_ Midoriya wondered, _I’ve only been gone a few minutes, tops._

Suddenly, a portal opened beneath the Nomu, and it was able to escape as All Might scrambled to his feet. Todoroki backed up in surprise as well. He tried to spread more ice across the ground to trap the monster, but Nomu thrust both fists into the ground, splitting the ice.

“GET BACK, TODOROKI,” All Might commanded, “I’ll handle this!” 

Todoroki looked rather uneasy at the command, but backed away as requested. 

Next to Creepy Hands, a man in a sharp business suit who appeared to be made of purple smog stepped out of another portal. 

“This is bad, Shigaraki,” Smog Man said to Creepy Hands - who Midoriya realized must have been Shigaraki, “We should consider a retreat.”

“But Kurogiri,” Shigaraki sneered, “the final boss is right in front of us. I can’t take the game over now.” 

“STOP SPEAKING IN VIDEO GAME REFERENCES YOU CREEPY FUCK!”

Midoriya jumped from his hiding spot and grimaced. Such rage could only mean one thing: Bakugou was rocketing towards Shigaraki and Kurogiri, ready to unleash explosive fury upon them. 

Kurogiri opened a portal in the air, and Shigarki reached his hand through as another portal appeared in the air in front of Bakugou. Shigaraki was trying to use the same trick to get Bakugou as he had attempted on Asui.

Bakugou was expecting this though, as he thrust a hand upward, and used an angled explosion to propel himself under Shigaraki’s hand and in front of Kurogiri, unleashing a second explosion with his free hand. Kurogiri, taken by surprise, was thrust backward, his portals failing. Shigaraki was only just able to pull his hand free in time. 

“I’VE BEEN WATCHING YOU, YOU SMOKY SHIT-ASS! YOUR BODY IS YOUR WEAK P-ARGH!”

Bakugou, despite having taken down Kurogiri, learned that talking is not a free action. The Nomu had sprung forward and uppercut the blonde student into the air, and the boy landed against the terrain with a hard thud. 

As the Nomu advanced for a further attack, it was intercepted by All Might with a cry of, “DETROIT SMAAAASH!” But the Nomu barely flinched, absorbing. 

Bakugou was still reeling as Shigaraki approached him. 

“What a nuisance you are,” Shigaraki scoffed. “I’ll show you what I do with nuisances...”

As Shigaraki leaned forward to erase Bakugou from existence, Midoriya sprang into action. Leaping from the hedges, his eyes glowed blue as he cried, “I SAY THEE NAY!” A blast of lightning surged from Mjolnir at his words, hitting Shigaraki on the side of the head, and sending him sprawling across the rocks and dirt. The hand that was mounted on Shigaraki’s face went flying off and landed a few feet next to him. 

The Nomu looked to his master enraged, and charged Midoriya, who sent another blast of lightning. This one hit the Nomu in it’s knee, sending it crashing into a kneeling position. All Might dashed up behind it.

“Power Absorption is your Quirk, huh big fella? Well let’s see the LIMITS!”

Before the Nomu could recover, All Might began raining blows upon the beast-like man, hitting the same spot faster than the eye could see in the back of it’s head. A hard blow sent it flying forwards towards Deku, who was ready. Spinning Mjolnir at his side, he swung it upwards and uppercut Nomu with his hammer. Lightning crackled as Nomu went flying into the air, falling down towards All Might.

“DETROIT...” All Might cried, preparing an uppercut of his own, “SMAAAAAAASH!” 

All Might’s blow proved decisive, sending Nomu rocketing out of the building and crashing through a skylight. 

All Might and Deku turned towards Shigaraki and Kurogiri to see they had recovered. Shigaraki sat up, as Kurogiri ran over to him. 

“Boss, this is bad. We need to leave.” 

Shigaraki, however, wasn’t listening, scrambling across the ground, decaying bits and pieces of it. 

“Father...” he muttered, “where are you father?!” 

Finally, upon finding the hand that covered his face, he grabbed it gingerly, with one pinky extended. He raised his head and glared at Midoriya, freezing the green-haired boy in his tracks. 

Midoriya had never seen so much hatred in someone’s eyes before that day. In his shock, he dropped Mjolnir at his side.

“Let’s get out of here, Kurogiri,” Shigaraki scowled, placing the hand firmly back upon his face. 

“NOT SO FAST!” All Might cried, dashing for the two head villains, but it was too late; a portal opened beneath the two, and they had vanished. “Damn,” he cursed under his breath. “I’ve lost a step or two, haven’t I...”

He turned to Midoriya and beamed, placing a hand on his shoulder and spoke in a low tone. “Thank you for your assistance, Young Midoriya. I see Thor has taught you quite well.”

And then All Might did something that rendered Deku completely speechless; he leaned down, picked up Mjolnir, and handed it to Midoriya.

Deku’s jaw dropped. “How did you...?”

All Might just laughed as Izuku stared at him with a slack-jawed expression. “Oh, I’ll explain another time,” he turned to Todoroki and spoke louder, “And you as well Young Todoroki! Your help was invaluable!” 

The taller teen walked up the two and merely nodded. “Well. Glad to assist.” 

“We should go make sure your classmate, young Bakugou is okay.” 

“Oh man, here he is!” Another voice called out from the bushes. From the brush, Kirishima emerged with Mineta in tow. “I told Bakugou not to run off without us. Whoa...” He looked around, seeing All Might, Deku, and Todoroki standing amidst a destroyed area. “What did I miss?”  
\---

As the students all gathered and reconvened, Midoriya was surprised to hear how all of his classmates had fared when they all became separated: Uraraka regaled the class with how they distracted Kurogiri long enough for Iida to escape. Kaminari bragged about he, Yaoyorozu, and Jiro took down a big group - though Jiro kept interrupting to advise how he was mostly useless until Momo had crafted an insulated blanket to protect them from his electricity. Hagakure gushed over watching Todoroki freeze a horde of thugs, though he was shocked she was even there. Everyone seemed to have run into a struggle, but no one in the class was any worse for wear... other than Aizawa, who would be in a body cast for some time.

Of course, Midoriya was also thoroughly embarrassed when Tsuyu talked about how awesome Deku’s own plan to escape shipwreck zone while simultaneously frying an entire squad of aquatic villains was. 

“I-I couldn’t have done it without you,” Midoriya assured her through his terrible blushing. “I’d have been dead if you hadn’t saved me in the first place.” 

“It sounds like you two make a great team!” Uraraka beamed, causing Asui to blush a bit as well. 

The moment was ruined when Mineta literally forced himself between the two of them to argue, “I think you and I could make a much better team, right Asui?”

She grabbed him and threw him into the seat behind her, prompting Midoriya and Uraraka to laugh. Midoriya slumped backwards into his seat and let out a sigh. 

_I’ll have to make sure I tell Thor about my first run in with a super villain,_ he thought to himself.


	8. Called Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As UA prepares for the upcoming Sports Festival, a classmate puts a target on our hero's back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fan work and I own nothing

“So his mask was a hand, and he kept calling it father?” Thor asked, biting into Inko’s cooking as the three of them sat around the table. “Hmm. Trust me from all my years in battle with Loki... whoever that villain is must be plagued with what you Midgardians call, ‘daddy issues.’”

Midoriya snorted into his rice. “Izuku!” Inko scolded, though she was smiling herself. Though her tone and expression became more somber as she picked at her own plate. “Still...this is the second time I’ve had to get notified of an incident. Isn’t UA supposed to be a safe facility?” 

“The USJ is an offsite facility, mom,” Izuku assured her, “and they’ve tightened security a lot since the incident with the reporters.”

“Well... okay,” his mother conceded. “But I hope I don’t see anything further about break ins or endangerment or...”

She was interrupted as Thor reached over and grabbed her shoulder, gently. “Inko, if I may be so bold... young Midoriya here has chosen a life that entails many dangers and hardships.”

She turned red. “I... I know. I can’t help but worry. School should be the place where he is the safest.” 

“Well, I suppose that makes sense,” Thor conceded. “I will keep an eye on things in the next few days. Make sure there’s no trouble.”

Midoriya nearly gagged. What exactly did that mean? He just hoped Thor wouldn’t go picking fights with anyone. 

“I appreciate that,” Inko sighed in relief. “I do admit, I feel better when you’re around.”

“I’m going to vomit,” Midoriya put his head in his hands. “Please stop flirting.”

The two adults laughed. As he cleared the dishes, Midoriya whispered that he needed to ask Thor something about what had happened at the USJ. Thor, to his credit, nodded solemnly, and invited Midoriya to take a walk with him after he had finished cleaning up. 

“Don’t be gone too long, you have homework to finish,” Inko advised, but her tone wasn’t overly stern. She knew very well Midoriya was a diligent student. 

Once outside, Midoriya made sure no one was in earshot, before turning to his mentor. “So, I told you about helping All Might, and the villains, but... he said he knew about you. About you choosing me. It sounded like you guys go back a ways?”

Thor’s expression stiffened, and he looked away. “Aye, yes lad. I met Toshinori back when he first started his Heroics and he started calling himself the Symbol of Peace. Bit of a brag, a name like that,” Thor added, with a sneer, “and I go around announcing myself as God of Thunder.” 

Midoriya looked ahead. It was nice to have confirmation of his suspicions. But that wasn’t the only thing bugging him either. “It’s just that... well...”

He stopped in his tracks, and Thor walked forward a bit more before turning and realizing his young ward wasn’t next to him. “Yes?”

“He... lifted Mjolnir.” Midoriya admitted. “I don’t... understand.” 

Thor signed, closing his eyes and looking downwards. After a few moments pause, he turned to a bench nearby, and sat. “I don’t think I explained properly, but... Mjolnir is not bound to just one soul.”

“Well, you said I could lift it because I’m worthy, right?” Midoriya asked. “Does that mean more than one person can be worthy?”

Thor nodded, a small smile flickering across his face. “You learn quickly. Loki was right; you’re so different from how I was when young. He likes that about you.” He looked to the sky. The sun was setting, bathing the two in orange and pink hues as they spoke. “Yes. It’s exceedingly rare for someone to be worthy. But even as I wielded Mjolnir, I knew a few others who were worthy. Captain America included.” 

“I... I see.” Midoriya frowned. Even as rare as it was, he couldn’t help but sense the familiar feelings of self-doubt set in. “But... how do we know I’m the right one? Maybe someone better is worthy -”

“No,” Thor replied bluntly.

There was a heavy pause. After a minute, Deku said, “Uh... can you elaborate?”

Thor laughed. “There is no one better out there right now to wield Mjolnir than you.”

“How do you...?”

“How do I know?” Thor chuckled again, stood up, and placed a hand on Deku’s shoulder. “Because I know you, young Midoriya. I trust you and your heroic spirit.” 

Heat climbed to Midoriya’s cheeks, and he sniffed a bit, but held back the tears. “So... what does that have to do with you and All Might?”

Thor frowned and turned, the two continuing their walk. “It was probably twenty years ago or so. Maybe more. Early during All Might’s career... I offered him the chance to be my successor.”

Midoriya tripped over his own feet in surprise. “You wanted All Might to be the God of Thunder?” He asked, clamoring back to his feet. 

“Aye, lad.” Thor nodded. “He had just emerged onto the Hero Scene, and his abilities and drive to make the land a better place resonated with me. I appeared before him and his own mentor one evening, and tested him to see if he was worthy. When he lifted Mjolnir, I assured him he could have the powers of the God of Thunder at his disposal. And...”

“...and?” Deku asked, gently. The topic seemed sensitive.

“He said no.” Thor answered, trying to keep his cool, but Midoriya could see from the Asgardian’s clenched fists that he was still bitter over the whole ordeal. “Said he didn’t need it, and that he believed it was too much power for one man to hold in addition to his own abilities.” 

“Oh...” It was about all Midoriya could think to say, and it was a lot to process. 

_Certainly All Might didn’t need any abilities to be the Number One Hero. Then again, he had also suffered a game-breaking injury and could only perform heroics for a limited time each day. Maybe if he had chosen to accept the position things would have been different?_

_It also wasn’t hard to see why Thor might have chosen All Might in the first place; they were more similar the more Midoriya got to know them; boisterous blonde powerhouses that saved people and protected society with power._

“Midoriya.”

He could see why Thor would be upset about the whole thing too; the offer to be God of Thunder would be something of a dream come true, no matter what your Quirk was. To turn it down would have had to have felt like one of the biggest snubs in existence. 

“Midoriya, you’ve been muttering this whole time.” Thor interrupted, less than amused. 

Deku looked up, surprised. “Oh shoot, I was saying all of that out loud?”

Thor nodded. “Yeah, you were. You need to knock that off, it’s weird for you to talk about me like I’m not here. Look, that stuff doesn’t matter. Ultimately, it works out. Because I met you, and you’ve taken up the mantle.” 

Deku gave a sad laugh. “Are you sure? I mean... I’m not really anything like you, Thor.” 

“One might say that’s a good thing.” 

Both Thor and Deku jumped at the voice. The tree that had been next to the bench they were sitting on earlier suddenly began to change, shifting back into Loki. Deku beamed at seeing him, but Thor just rolled an eye. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” 

“Eavesdropping on emotional conversations falls under the realm of God of Mischief,” Loki smirked. “Besides, I do love to revel in your failures, brother.” He turned to Deku. “You being unlike this oaf is probably the best thing that hammer has done in one thousand years.”

Midoriya laughed nervously, and to his surprise, Thor did too. “You know,” Thor said, “for once, I agree with you, Loki.” 

At the look of surprise on his brother’s face, Thor continued. “I made many, many mistakes as a hero, young Midoriya. Loki here was... well, the brains of the family. I caused a lot of problems with my approach of zap first, questions later. I trust that you will be much more than I ever could be.” 

Midoriya’s eyes watered, and he was rendered speechless. Thankfully, Loki broke the silence with a scoff. “Way to make my insult into an emotional speech.”

Midoriya wiped his eyes and smiled. “Right. I’ll... I’ll do my best, you guys! We should head back. I need to think of a Hero name; they’re going to have us pick them by the end of the term. Half the class things my name is actually Deku.”

Thor scoffed. “Isn’t that the thing Kachow calls you?” 

“Y-yeah, Kacchan has been calling me that since we were kids.” Midoriya sighed. “His way of calling me a Quirkless nobody.” 

Loki’s expression soured, “He what?”

Thor grinned. “Well, I certainly bet he regrets telling you to kill yourself now that you’ve shown him up so much.”

A knife slid out of Loki’s sleeve, and he began scanning buildings. “Where does this Kachow fellow live? Maybe we should give him a talking to.” 

“N-no that’s not necessary!” Deku blurted out as Thor bellowed with laughter. 

As they followed the God of Mischief, Thor turned to Deku and asked, with a mischievous grin of his own, “So tell me about this Tsuyu girl. Sounds like you’re rather taken with her.”

Deku’s face burned brightly. “S-stop!”   
\---

Later that night, Midoriya laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. To think All Might could have been God of Thunder and the Symbol of Peace all this time. He rolled to his side and wondered what would have become of him if that had happened, what would have changed. 

Unable to sleep, he stood up and walked over to his desk. He reached in one of the drawers to find a list of Hero names he wanted to use as a kid, most of them ripoffs of All Might’s name: Small Might, All Might Jr., The Second Coming of All Might, The All Mighty One, Might Kid, Dyno Might, Brawl Might, and Guy Might. “I can’t believe Mom never threw this out,” he whispered to the darkness of his room. 

Still, he had a few months to worry about it. By that time, maybe he’d make it known he’d inherited the title of God of Thunder.   
\---  
“Young Man and Young Lady, aren’t you part of Class 1-A, the ones that were attacked?!” A reporter screamed in Deku’s face as he turned the corner to approach UA. Asui had met up with him on the walk over, and the two did their best to ignore the newscasters questions, as they had for the rest of the week following the USJ incident. 

“Kero, it can’t be THIS slow of a news week,” Tsuyu grumbled, loud enough for everyone to hear. 

It did nothing to dissuade the paparazzi, but it drew a laugh from Midoriya. “I-I know. I c-can’t wait for these walks to become quiet again.”

Ever since the USJ incident, a few things had changed for the kids of Class 1-A, and the media attention was the biggest of those changes. While Aizawa and their principal encouraged the children to leave any media contact to the school, a few classmates seemed to revel in the spotlight (Ashido, Hagakure, and Kaminari in particular). 

“GET THAT MICROPHONE OUT OF MY FACE BEFORE I BLOW IT UP YOUR ASS!” 

Asui and Midoriya looked up to see Bakugou entering the gate, threatening the reports as he had every other day that week. 

“I think he used that one already, kero,” Asui quipped, drawing a laugh from Midoriya. 

While not all the changes were positive, Deku certainly didn’t mind having company on his morning walks. “There’s only so many places he can say he’ll shove a microphone, Tsuyu.” He mentally congratulated himself for remembering to use her given name. 

Once inside, more exciting news awaited them: “You may need to deal with the press a bit longer,” Aizawa yawned from his sleeping bag. “They’re going to resurge, I’m sure, as we begin preparations for the Sports Festival.”

Midoriya’s heart jumped into his throat as the class cheered. 

He...  
LOVED THE SPORTS FESTIVAL!

It was one of his favorite televised events of the year! Watching the brilliant students of UA fight each other with unique Quirks and techniques was one of the driving factors of him choosing UA in the first place. He glanced around the class his classmates felt about the same way he did. 

“Finally, a chance to show off on the grand stage!” Aoyama declared, tossing his hair in an attempt to seem elegant. 

“Yeah... sure, whatever,” Aizawa sighed. “Your internships will be coming up after the Festival, which will gear you towards valuable experience towards finals. Lots of Pros and their organizations will be watching, so make sure you have a good showing and you’ll get some better offers.” 

Murmurs went around the class, but they were interrupted as Present Mic opened the door, “WHO'S READY FOR SHAKESPEARE?!”

The murmurs were replaced with groans, although not from Midoriya. He was still too excited to let even The Bard himself get him down.   
\---  
The day had come to an end, and students of class 1-A were packing up. Midoriya still had a wide grin on his face as he got ready to walk home with Uraraka, Iida, and Asui, as he did every day. But today, as he stood up, someone else called out for him.

“Midoriya.” 

Deku looked around, confused, before realizing the call had come from Todoroki, standing in the back of the room. He realized he didn’t recognize it because usually Todoroki spoke in a low voice, and this might have been the first time Izuku had ever heard him project. “What’s up, Todoroki?”

“I am going to crush you at the Sports Festival,” he declared in an icy tone that through Midoriya off. The students around him all fell silent and looked on; this was some fresh drama for sure. 

“I... what?” Midoriya responded, confused. "Me?"

“You’re All Might’s favorite, aren’t you?” Todoroki sneered. 

“Todoroki, what are you even talking about?” Kirishima asked from a few desks away.

“All Might told me to stay away from the villains at the USJ,” the boy with the two-toned bowl cut answered, “but when Midoriya steps in to help, he pats him on the shoulder.”

Midoriya heard Bakugou stand up behind him and stomp towards the door. _Now why is HE pissed off?_ “Todoroki, I was just in the right place at the right time.” 

“It doesn’t matter, either way,” Todoroki said with a shrug. “I’m going to make an example out of you, and prove myself as the next Number One Hero.” 

With that, Todoroki grabbed his bag and walked towards Bakugou at the door. But both of them stopped as Bakugou threw it open.

About twenty students stood outside the door, staring in at who they could see. Midoriya and his friends moved behind Todoroki and Bakugou to see what the commotion was. These twenty students had expressions ranging from anger to nervousness, though a few looked rather bored about the whole thing. 

“So, this is the, ‘famous,’ class 1-A, is it?” A blond boy towards the front said, feigning admiration. “The talk of the whole school?” 

“I’LL SCHOOL YOUR FACE IF YOU DON’T GET OUT OF MY WAY!” Bakugou screamed, but this just made the crowd of students close in tighter.

“What’s your problem...?” Todoroki asked, impatiently.

“Kind of hypocritical, right?” Midoriya whispered, prompting Tsuyu to snicker.

“Our problem is how much stock everyone is putting into class 1-A!” The blond boy exclaimed, pointing dramatically. “No one is even talking about what we can do in Class 1-B.”

“Monoma, this is stupid,” sighed a redhaired girl in the back of the crowd. 

Iida cleared his throat, clearly feeling the need to flex his Class President status. “I’m sure there is an amicable way we can resolve any hostilities -” 

That was as far as he got before Bakugou shoved the boy named Monoma aside, “Whatever. I’m going to kick EVERYONE’s ass anyway. Move it, nerd!” 

The rest of class 1-B got out of his way, but they all stopped to glare daggers at the rest of class 1-A as they walked out of the room. 

“Great, now we’re all going to have targets on our backs compared to the rest of the first years,” Uraraka sighed as they reached the front of the school. 

“It sounds like we already do,” Iida said. “I don’t think Monoma is the only one who thinks we’re gloryhounds after our first real encounter with real villains.”

“I’ve gotten recognized on the train a few times, kero,” Tsuyu added. “I can see why they’d be jealous. Exposure is important for being a Pro Hero.” She turned to Deku. “Still, if that’s the case, I wonder what Todoroki’s problem is.” 

“Yeah, Deku, did something happen to you guys at the USJ?” Uraraka asked. 

Midoriya shook his head. “Nope. We’ve never even had a conversation before now.” 

“He’s not someone to take lightly,” Iida sighed. “Remember Aizawa’s testing of our skills. He’s the strongest person in our class.”

“Deku can take him!” Uraraka fist pumped. “But none of that matters, because I’m going to win the whole thing!” 

The friends laughed and began talking more about the Sports Festival, but Midoriya couldn’t get what Todoroki had said to him out of his head. That he would make an example out of Deku. 

He looked down at Mjolnir. _I think I’ll train with Thor and Valkyrie some more tonight._


	9. Sports Joust... er... Festival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sports Festival is underway!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fan work and I own nothing.

“So this is a joust?” Valkyrie asked, looking from her ticket to the numbered seats. 

“No, it’s more like a tournament,” Thor answered, finding his own seat and sitting down.

“Midoriya explained it already,” Loki sighed, sitting between the two. “It ends with a tournament, but there are preliminary rounds since the amount of First Years is large.”

“Does winning grant some kind of rank promotion?” Valkyrie asked, reaching over Loki to grab some popcorn from Thor, much to Loki’s annoyance. 

“It’s more about scouting and public exposure so that companies will want to hire them out of school as Heroes and such.” Thor answered. 

“And a monetary prize,” Loki added, digging a hand in Thor’s popcorn tub.

“You know, why didn’t you two get your own?” Thor grumbled. He then turned to Inko, seated at his other side. “Would you like some?” Loki rolled his eyes at the display.

Inko grabbed a small handful. “Thank you for the tickets, Thor. I can’t wait to watch my boy in action. This is much better than watching at home! I just hope he’ll be alright.”

“Screw just being alright, for how much training I’ve put him through the last few weeks, he better win,” Valkyrie laughed.   
\---  
Midoriya approached the starting line, the rest of class 1-A on either side of him. Past them were students of the Support Courses, General Classes, and the rest of the First Years. He scanned the competition and saw Todoroki a few paces away. 

_I already know his opening strategy,_ Midoriya thought. He crouched at the line and waited for the siren to note the beginning of the race. 

The siren blared and, as Midoriya expected, Todoroki charged forward, thrust his right arm backwards, and sent a wall of ice behind him to entrap as many first years as he could. 

Midoriya stepped forward and slammed his hammer against the ground. A shockwave disrupted the earth and shattered enough of the ice for him to charge though. In his peripheral vision, he could see smoke from an explosion and Bakugou break through, as did some of the others from his class. 

With no time to think, he gave chase to Todoroki and rounded a corner, hearing a chorus of gasps come from behind him. 

Hidden from side due to the curvature of the landscape was a valley full of Zero Pointer robots. 

“They use these for SPORT NOW?!” Kaminari cried from a few feet away. 

Todoroki didn’t let it slow him down. He used his ice to create a slide of sorts to zip past and around the legs of the Zero Pointers. Inspired, Ashido did the same thing, and Sero himself used his tape to latch onto the legs of a robot and swing between them. 

Midoriya began to swing Mjolnir at his side, but before he could even formulate an attack plan, he was almost deafened as a blast rang out from about ten meters to his right. He looked over to see Yaoyorozu had created a naval cannon from her stomach and was shooting holes in each Zero Pointer. 

As the robots began to collapse, Midoriya began racing forward again, swinging Mjolnir overhead to destroy debris and knock it out of his way. _Don’t need to fight them, just need to get through._

As he cleared the robots he came to another hazard; a canyon that needed to be crossed, with various pillars scattered across it. Todoroki himself had already cleared this and dismantled his ice bridge so no one could follow. 

“SUCK IT, NERD!” Bakugou shouted as he brushed past Midoriya, using explosions to propel himself from one pillar to another. He looked back and gave Deku the middle finger. 

_Shoot,_ Midoriya cursed, _There’s no way I can use wind boosts to get all the way over there..._

“Come on, Midoriya!” A voice came from behind him, making him jump. He turned to see Asui rush past him and use her frog jump to make it across to another pillar herself. 

As he watched her, a girl with pink hair walked past him, aiming some sort of shoulder mounted rifle. “Look out, Hammer Bro.” 

He took a step back as the girl - who he realized must have been a support student due to the amount of headgear and mechanical equipment she had strapped to her, shot a grappling hook from her mounted gun, and then planted the line on the ground. Without another word, she began balancing across it. 

Midoriya looked around to see other students figuring out ways across. He couldn’t stop here. 

With no other choice, he set Mjolnir down, stepped on top of the line after her, and began following her. “You better not knock me off balance!” She scowled over her shoulder. 

Midoriya said nothing, just looked straight ahead at the thin line he was trying to cross, not answering the young woman ahead.   
\---  
“Why isn’t he just flying?” Loki asked, squinting at the screen. 

“He doesn’t know how yet,” Valkyrie answered. 

“Doesn’t know - what are you teaching him?!” Loki rounded on Thor. “It’s been over a year and you haven’t taught him FLIGHT?!” 

“Flying isn’t easy,” Thor defended, scooting away. “It’s a harness of wind energy within and it’s indescribable as a feeling. It’s not easy to teach because of that. I’ve tried.”

Loki just stared at his brother with eyes that said, “are you shitting me?”  
\---  
About halfway across the canyon, the line Midoriya and Pink Haired Support Girl were crossing shook violently, threatening to knock the two down. Midoriya looked back in horror to see the blond boy from class 1-B - Monoma - stomping on the line to try and knock it off balance. 

“That motherfucker.” Midoriya whispered. He usually wasn’t one for swearing - hearing it from Bakugou all of his life made it seem distasteful. But as the line snapped, he repeated, “THAT MOTHERFUCKER!” 

As he began to tumble downwards, he heard the high pitched yelp of the girl in front of him. 

No one was around to save them. 

_It’s up to me!_ He realized as the blood began to rush to his ears. 

Holding out his hand, he summed Mjolnir to his hand, never taking his eyes off the pink-haired girl in front of him. As the hammer met his palm, he thrust it forward, riding the wind and momentum to dive towards her. He wrapped his left arm around her waist, and then pointed Mjolnir upwards. The two rose above the canyon and landed Midoriya spun the hammer above his head, gently descending as the two landed on the other side of the clearing. 

As he released the girl, he was hit with realization and he stopped to stare at Mjolnir.

He had flown. 

The girl with the pink hair gave him a big smile. “Thanks! You sure seem handy to be around. Catch you later!” 

He snapped himself out of his amazement and looked behind him. Most of the first years were still struggling with the canyon, but he could hear Present Mic announcing that the leaders of the race had made it to the next obstacle. 

He looked down at his hammer and grinned. 

Why bother running? He spun Mjolnir at his side and thrust it forward, lifting himself off the ground and flying forward. As he flew a few feet over Asui’s head, he turned and gave her a small wave as she croaked in surprise. 

“Since when can you do that? Kero.” She shouted. 

“It’s new!” He yelled behind him.   
\---  
“See? Look, he can fly!” Thor laughed triumphantly.

“Psh. You didn’t have any part of it,” Loki scoffed, but he couldn’t hide his own grin.  
\---  
As Midoriya flew to the last challenge before reaching the arena - a minefield - he saw Todoroki and Bakugou slowly walking over the field to avoid explosions. Deku wasted no time soaring over their heads, and in mid air, turned to make eye contact with Bakugou. 

Midoriya gave him a middle finger in return, grinning as he turned back and heard the sounds of explosions behind him. He wasn’t sure if they were Bakugou or the minefield, but was too far ahead for either of them to catch now. 

“AND MIDORIYA IZUKU MAKES IT TO THE ARENA FIRST!” Present Mic screamed to the crowd, who cheered along with him. 

Midoriya turned to see other hordes of students emerge into the arena after him. On a giant screen over the stands, rankings began to fly on the screen as the last desperate push came in from the first years of UA. 

“Deku! We made it!” He heard from off to his side.

He turned and beamed to see Uraraka, Iida and Tsuyu running towards him. “Awesome!” 

Iida nodded, but seemed to take no joy in finishing near the top of rankings. “I thought my Quirk was well suited to a race, but the canyon and minefield admittedly put me at a disadvantage.”

“Speaking of advantages, since when can you fly?!” Uraraka cried, hitting Deku lightly on the shoulder as students began to crowd around further. 

“To be honest, I don’t know what happened,” Midoriya laughed, embarrassed. “That guy from class 1-B sabotaged a rope I was using across the canyon and me and some girl started falling. I just kind of... freaked out and flew.” 

“Hopefully that helps you in the next part of the tournament, kero,” Tsuyu said, tapping her finger to her mouth. “After all, supposedly the challenges are made with all Quirks in mind.”   
\---  
“See, look at that!” Thor boomed with laughter, standing up and dumping the remainder of his Popcorn tub on the poor sap in front of him. “He’s winning!” 

Inko said nothing next to that, just cried quietly, mouth open in a wide-eyed smile.

“That was just a preliminary though, right?’ Valkyrie asked. “So how do they start ruling people out?” 

“If you just listen, the weird woman in the white bodysuit will tell us,” Loki sighed, pointing to a podium where Pro Hero and Teacher Midnight was announcing the next face of the Sports Festival: The Cavalry Battle.   
\---  
“...and the point headbands will increase in value in incremental points,” Midnight explained to the crowd and the contestants, before making direct eye contact with Midoriya. “With the exception of our current first place student. You see Midoriya Izuku, your headband will be worth a whopping ONE MILLION POINTS!” 

The crowd cheered, but Deku could feel every student in the arena turn and glare at him with hungry eyes. Despite being in his gym clothes like everyone else, he felt incredibly naked under the gaze of the entire freshman class. 

“... that... uh,” he gulped as he tried to stammer out a response “...neat.” 

Midnight laughed, “Is there anything you want to say to the crowd before the Cavalry Battle begins?”

Midoriya choked nervously, but the microphone didn’t make it to him before Bakugou ripped it from Midnight’s outstretched hand. 

“YOU!!!” He screamed, pointing right at Midoriya. 

“... me?” Midoriya asked, bewildered, pointing at himself.   
\---  
“Who’s the anger management case?” Valkyrie asked, disdainfully. 

“I believe that’s Kachow, isn’t it brother?” Loki sneered. 

“Aye, that is indeed young Kachow,” Thor nodded, before loudly shouting, “BOOOOO!”

Inko held in a laugh as Loki and Valkyrie joined in; a few rows down, Bakugou Mitsuki turned and glared at the God of Thunder. “Foreigners,” Mrs. Bakugou muttered under her breath.   
\---  
“I’m going to PERSONALLY rip that headband RIGHT OF YOUR SHITTY FOREHEAD!” Bakugou growled for the whole arena to hear. “I’ll beat you, AND EVERYONE ELSE HERE!” He turned and grit his teeth at the rest of the first years, a few of them stepping away. “BECAUSE I AM THE STRONGEST AND I AM GOING TO BE THE NUMBER ONE HERO!” He sent an explosion over his head for show.

The other first years began to shout back at him, so he shouted, once more, “You don’t like it? WELL, THAT’S TOO DAMN BAD!” 

He dropped the microphone and stormed off. Midoriya’s nerves were replaced by the sound of thunder in his head and the feeling of his blood boiling. He bent down and grabbed the microphone.

“Hey.” 

Bakugou turned as Midoriya spoke, the two boys making eye contact.

“If you think you can take this headband from me, you’re more than welcome to try.” Midoriya challenged in an even tone, handing the mic back to Midnight, and picking up Mjolnir.

You could almost hear Bakugou’s teeth grinding from the stands. As Midoriya turned, he could see Todoroki at the front of the crowd of first years, glaring at him. “That goes for you, too.” He said, just loud enough for Todoroki to hear. 

“SUCH MACHISMO!” Midnight squealed. “I love it! You all have fifteen minutes to pick teams.” 

As the students dispersed into small groups, Midoriya retreated to his group of friends. 

“Well, I think you got under his skin, kero,” Asui said, putting her finger to her chin. “Should the four of us make a team?” 

Midoriya’s expression shifted to a grin. “That would be awesome! There’s no one I’d trust more than you guys.” 

The two turned to Uraraka and Iida, but their friends were both not looking nearly as confident. “Guys...?” Midoriya asked. 

“Look, Deku...” Uraraka began, rubbing her arm. “Iida and I were talking earlier today and...”

“We don’t want to feel like we’re living in your shadow,” Iida finished. 

“Shadow...?” He echoed. 

“If we team with you, everyone will be focused on you and your bounty,” Uraraka explained. “This is our big chance. I’m sorry, but I’m going to go see if I can team with someone else.”

“Right. You’re my friend, but you’re my rival too.” Iida said, turning away. Tellingly though, he couldn’t look Deku in the eyes as he said that. 

It took Midoriya minute to process this as he watched his friends walk off, fighting the urge to cry. He had grown used to people not wanting to team with him when he grew up Quirkless, but this time stung in particular. He didn’t turn to Asui as he asked, because he was afraid of her answer. “Do you... want to team with someone else too, Tsuyu?”

There was a brief pause, but he felt a bit relieved as he felt her hand - slightly larger than average - grab his shoulder. “Don’t worry, kero. I’ve got your back.” 

He sniffed. “Thanks, Tsuyu. Let’s find some more -” 

“LOOK NO FURTHER!”

Midoriya and Asui both jumped at the loud voice that had sprang up behind them. It was the Support Girl from earlier, the one with the pink hair and tech around her waist. “Oh, hey, it’s you!” Midoriya smiled. “Glad you’re okay.” 

“I’m glad you were there with that nifty flying hammer!” The girl beamed, extending her hand. “Hatsume Mei, at your service. Remember the name, because you’ll be coming to me and my babies for all your Support Gear soon!” 

Midoriya shook her hand but exchanged unsure glances with Asui as he did. “Nice to meet you, Hatsume.” 

She introduced herself and shook hands with Asui. “Now look. You guys should have me on your team, I’ve got these,” she pointed to the giant metallic boots on her feet. “Anti-gravity Boost Boots for High jumps and slow falls. With Tsuyu’s jumping and your wind control, we’ll practically be able to fly!” 

“That sounds great, kero,” Asui replied, “but do they work?” 

“Of course they work!” Hatsume grinned. “They’ve worked in six out of every ten trial runs!” 

“I... would hope for better,” Deku said. 

“Hey, sixty percent of the time, they work every time!” Hatsume argued. “Besides, let me help you out for helping me out!” 

Midoriya and Asui looked at each other and shrugged. “Alright Hatsume, welcome aboard.” Midoriya smiled. “We should get one more person here to act as defense, put them in front. Do you have any ideas?” 

“Psh, no.” Hatsume rolled her eyes. “People suck, I usually just hang out with my babies.” 

“... cool cool cool.” Midoriya sighed. 

The three of them went around to some of the other students of class 1-A, realizing they only had five minutes left. They tried Tokoyami first, but he was teaming with Shouji and Mineta. Todoroki himself had already nabbed Iida, Uraraka, and Kaminari. Bakugou had already secured Sero, Kirishima, and Ashido as well. 

“Sorry man,” Sero had said, scratching his neck, “If I knew you had wanted to team up, I would have said no to Bakugou. If I backed out now, I think he’d blow me to hell.” 

“It’s cool,” Midoriya sighed, and looked to his left.

And then he saw him. A grin broke out on his face, and he ran, taking Asui and Hatsume by surprise. “Hey!” 

He made his way over to Aoyama and grabbed his shoulder. “Hey!” 

Aoyama jumped and whipped around. “You startled me, Midoriya!” 

“Sorry, but I think you’d be perfect for our team!” Deku pleaded, leaving out the part where he’d said the same thing to Tokoyami a few minutes ago. 

A giant smile spread over Aoyama’s face. “Finally! I should have known it’d be mon ami that would see the glory I can bring to a Cavalry Team!” 

This took Midoriya by surprise a bit. “No one asked you yet?” 

“Non, I even asked around. People underestimate the power of my twinkle cannon!” 

_His... what?_ Midoriya blinked. 

By now, Asui and Hatsume had caught up to them and Hatsume was eyeing the boy up and down. “You sure this is our guy, Midoriya?” 

“Absolutely!” Midoriya assured him. “I’ve got a plan guys. Listen...”


	10. Here Comes the Cavalry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riding on the winds of love and the shoulders of his teammates, it's the Cavalry Battle!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing

As Deku sat on the shoulders of his Cavalry Teammates, he felt incredibly... awkward. With Tsuyu by his left hand side, Hatsume on his right, and Aoyama bringing up the front, he shifted uncomfortably as the girls grabbed his sides. 

“So we all know the plan, right?” He asked his teammates.

“Oui!” 

“Kero,” was accompanied with a nod.

“Got it!” 

Midoriya stared out as the other teams readied themselves. All of them were staring back as he tied the million point headband around his head. “Believe it,” he whispered to himself. 

Bakugou and Todoroki were similarly glaring at Midoriya with contempt, making up the second and third place teams, respectively. 

He knew he had just placed a target on his head. But, if the plan worked, they just had to survive for fifteen minutes...

“Teams, are you ready?!” Midnight yelled. “Because I think the audience is!” 

The audience swelled with yells and applause. 

“GO!” Midnight screamed. 

As the teams all bum-rushed Midoriya’s team, he used a gust of wind at the ground to his right as Asui jumped with all her strength. The combined might of this sent the team about two stories off the ground, at which point Hatsume activated the Slow-Fall of her Boost Boots. Midoriya spun Mjolnir overhead; he couldn’t fly while carrying all of them, but with the tech helping, they were able to hover in the air. 

As the teams converged below on the spot where Deku’s team had been, chaos broke out, just like Deku had hoped for. Monoma of class 1-B stole Bakugou’s headband and took off, prompting the explosive hothead to steer his team away to give chase. 

"GIVE IT BACK HERE YOU FUCK, I'LL KILL YOU!" Bakugou screamed after Monoma. 

Suddenly, from the ground, a flurry of purple spheres and an angry shadow bird came rushing towards them! “Aoyama, now!” Deku shouted.

Aoyama shot his naval laser at Dark Shadow, the light from the attack cutting through the dark creature and forcing him back. The force from the laser also pushed the group away from Mineta’s Sticky Balls, as they fell short in the air. They repeated this strategy a few times to get away from some long range Quirks 

“So far, so good captain!” Hatsume laughed. “Ten minutes to go.”

“Guys, look!” Asui cried. 

From below, a ramp formed out of ice and they heard Iida shout something. 

“What did he say?” Hatsume asked, “Recipe Turbo - HOLY SHIT!” 

Todoroki’s entire team, lead by Iida, was boosted up the ice ramp. They zoomed past Midoriya’s team, and in midair, Todoroki grabbed Deku’s headband with his left hand.

It was over as soon as Deku had blinked. “Wait, WHAT?!”

“Midoriya, we fell to sixth place!” Asui cried.

Deku began to panic, he turned around and saw Todoroki had made an ice ramp for his team to slide down. “NO!” 

Without a second thought, he threw Mjolnir, shattering the ice ramp, causing Todoroki’s team to begin to fall. Uraraka quickly used her Quirk to make them all float but she looked ready to throw up. 

Midoriya dove away from his group and called Mjolnir to him. He flew through the air and towards the team, snatching his headband out of Todoroki’s outstretched hand. 

As he flew past the team, he saw his team go back up into first place. _That was way too close,_ he thought to himself as he cleared Todoroki’s team and flew back to the others. They had descended a bit without his wind abilities to help keep them a loft and Aoyama was using his laser a lot more as Dark Shadow and Mineta’s Sticky Balls continued to pursue them. 

“A few snags in the plan, but I think we should be okay now,” he told the others as he landed. 

“I don’t know if I can keep this up for another seven minutes, mon ami!” Aoyama grunted. 

Before Midoriya could come up with an alternate plan to deal with the onslaught, he heard the fateful call that had disrupted a chunk of his adolescence. 

“YOU SHITTY DEKU!”

Bakugou was rocketing through the air using his explosions for a version of flight. 

“RECIPRO BOOST!” 

Midoriya looked the other way to see Todoroki’s team was trying for the same Ice-Ramp-Boost combination. “Back up plan!” 

The back up plan was pretty simple; Hatsume disengaged her Boost Boots and the others fell to the ground, while Midoriya took to the air. It worked particularly well, Bakugou passed Todoroki’s team in the air and snatched Iida’s headband for good measure. But that was a temporary measure, as Bakugou turned in mid air and began ascending towards Midoriya.

“YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY THAT EASILY!” 

Midoriya flew away; thoughts racing. _Kacchan's flight is limited, he can only continually propel himself for so long before the strain on his wrists and gravity would win out. And the explosions meant he had to use a new one to change his trajectory._

This didn’t stop Bakugou like Midoriya thought it would though; the two zigzagged throughout the stadium, drawing cheers from the crowd.   
\---  
“This is just like that movie you showed me,” Valkyrie said, on the edge of her seat.

“Forrest Gump?” Thor asked.

Valkyrie and Loki both gave him looks of disbelief. “No, the one with the wizards, you dolt. You know, with the broomstick sport.” 

“Oh right, Harry Potter,” Thor laughed. Inko giggled as well. 

Loki sighed and rubbed his temples. “Why do I sit between the two of you?” 

“YOU BETTER FUCKING GET THAT NERD, KATSUKI!” Bakugou Mitsuki yelled from her seat a few rows down. 

“What a charming woman,” Loki sneered. "A real Malfoy."  
\---  
“GET BACK HERE!” Bakugou yelled. 

Midoriya turned in mid air and shot a bolt of lightning at Bakugou. Bakugou’s reflexes were in top shape and he used another explosion to volt himself over the blast.

Then Midoriya realized this would go right into the crowd and yelled, “CRAP!”

He zoomed under Bakugou, just barely flying out of the way of an explosion, racing the lighting strike. He was able to get in front of bolt and spin his hammer in front of it to absorb it. 

An explosion rang out next to him no sooner, as Bakugou snatched the million-point headband off of Midoriya’s head. This was immediately followed by Bakugou grabbing Midoriya’s face and letting loose a huge explosion, sending Deku towards the ground as he dropped Mjolnir in pain. 

He was almost eliminated, but Asui’s tongue caught him a foot from the ground and pulled him back to their team. Deku coughed and rubbed soot from his face as he was placed back on their shoulders. 

“Are you okay, kero?” She asked.

“Yeah... he got the headband... but did the backup plan work?” Midoriya asked. 

Asui grinned and held up Bakugou’s headband. “Yeah. He never noticed me grab it with my tongue after we all split up.”

“Everyone was so distracted by your air stunts it was a lot easier to defend it too!” Hatsume laughed. 

Midoriya sighed in relief as the buzzer went off, signifying the end of the Cavalry battle. With Bakugou’s headband, combined with the other values of his team, they had slid into second place in the battle. 

“That was quite a plan!” Aoyama praised as Midoriya climbed down to the ground. 

“Well, it was like three plans,” Deku admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “And I couldn’t have done it without you guys.” 

“Jeez, I just barely was close enough to catch you!” Sero sighed as he reeled Bakugou in with his tape. 

“Whatever, Elbows,” Bakugou laughed. “I got the Million points!” 

The three of his teammates cheered, but as the buzzer went off, Ashido did a double take. “Wait, Bakugou, where’s your headband?” 

Bakugou slapped his own forehead to see it was blank as he was still holding Midoriya’s headband. “...WHAT?!”

He turned around angrily and saw Midoriya’s team. At his angered gaze, Asui waved Bakugou’s headband at him. 

“That...THAT SHITTY FROG TRICKED ME!” He roared.

“Dude, we came in first place,” Kirishima said, hesitantly. “It’s all good.” 

“Those GOD DAMN EXTRAS SHOULD BE ELIMINATED!” He yelled in Kirishima’s face.

Kirishima calmly wiped some of Bakugou’s spit off his face. “Then you can eliminate them in the tournament. You know, the manly way.” 

“Yeah, we’re going to be the team to beat!” Mina beamed. 

The words seemed to hit Bakugou as a grin slowly twitched his way onto his face. Even that seemed violent. "I'll get back at that shitty Frog AND that shitty Deku."

“May I have your attention please!” 

The students and the frowd hushed as Midnight took the microphone again. “We have our four finalists teams, which will give us sixteen total students to advance to the finals of the First Year Sports Festival!” 

Midnight paused as the crowd cheered. 

“The finalists will be: Midoriya Izuku! Asui Tsuyu! Hatsume Mei! Aoyama Yuga! Bakugou Katsuki! Sero Hanta! Kirishima Eijiro! Ashido Mina! Todoroki Shoto! Uraraka Ochako! Iida Tenya! Kaminari Denki! Shinsou Hitoshi! Monoma Neito! Kendo Itsuka! And Yaoyorozu Momo!” 

The last four gave Midoriya confusion. He looked over to the team to see a General Studies student, Shinsou, had teamed with Monoma, Kendo, and Yaoyorozu. But the other three looked completely confused by the situation as Shinsou climbed down from their backs. _Why did Momo team with those three?_

From nearby, Midoriya could hear some of the Class 1-B students griping about their lack of participation. But one girl with hooves was trying her best to cheer up in classmates with broken Japenese. “But our my friends can make do good with their fight style! They do big win!” 

Midoriya saw the girl and realized she was a transfer student. _A for effort._

He was snapped out of his eavesdropping as Hatsume slapped him on the back. “See? What did I tell you guys. We were a perfect combination.”

“Kero, that went pretty well.” Asui agreed.

“I think you pissed off Bakugou though, Tsuyu,” Aoyama warned.

The four turned to look at Bakugou, who was shaking his fist at them angrily yelling, “YOU’RE DEAD, FROG! AND YOU TOO DEKU!” 

“I mean, that just seems like how he is every day,” Asui shrugged, prompting the rest to laugh.

“You’re not wrong,” Midoriya grinned. “I think they’re about to announce the first round matchups...”

The arena screen suddenly lit up with the bracket for the first round matches:

Midoriya Izuku vs. Iida Tenya

Hatsume Mei vs. Ashido Mina

Monoma Nieto vs. Kirishima Eijiro

Todoroki Shoto vs. Sero Hanta

Kendo Itsuka vs. Yaoyorozu Momo

Asui Tsuyu vs. Kaminari Denki

Uraraka Ochako vs. Aoyama Yuga

Bakugou Katsuki vs. Shinsou Hitoshi

Midoriya couldn’t help it, the nerves that went up his spine as he read these standings. He looked down and his eyes met Iida’s. The taller boy just smirked, which just prompted Deku to grip Mjolnir tighter. His power was no match for Iida’s speed. 

“Midoriya Izuku?” 

Deku turned to see Cementoss had approached with Midnight. “Yes, sir?” 

“I’ve been discussing with the faculty and I was hoping you could clarify something; part of your Quirk is to summon your hammer to your side?” Cementoss asked. 

“Er... yes.” Midoriya agreed, unsure of how else to explain it came with the title of godhood. 

By now, all sixteen contestants had gathered in a bit closer to listen in.

“Very well,” Cementoss nodded. “Contestants are to start each match without the aid of items - unless they are in Support of course. You must leave your hammer on the side of the field until the match begins.” 

“What?!” He objected. “That doesn’t make sense, if I’m going to have the hammer anyway.”

“Rules are rules,” Cementoss shrugged. “If your Quirk summons the hammer, you’ll just have to compensate.” 

“Sir,” Aoyama interjected, “I am allowed to use my laser’s gear, is that not the same?” 

Cementoss shook his head. “No. Without that, your Quirk runs the risk of causing yourself great harm. It’s considered necessary. It is not necessary for Midoriya to start with the hammer.” 

Deku frowned but slowly nodded. “Alright, I understand.” He turned to Aoyama and whispered, “thanks.”

But as Cementoss walked away, he could see the hungry looks he was getting from most of the other students. Momo, however, placed a hand on his shoulder as she approached from behind. “I face the same handicap, Midoriya.” 

“What do you mean?” He asked, turning to face her. 

“Well, it takes me time to create items,” she frowned. “Even if it’s a few split seconds, it puts us at a disadvantage.” 

Deku realized she was right. Her creation work was powerful but required a build up time. His mind was already racing, thinking of Quirks that could compliment hers on a Hero team, but he caught himself starting to mutter, and snapped himself out of it. “Ah...you’re right. But... your Quirk is amazing. We’ll figure something out.” He smiled. “Thanks, Vice President.” 

“You’ll all have half an hour to prepare! Better start strategizing, Heroes!” Midnight said into the microphone. 

Cementoss began leading the students to the two different waiting rooms backstage and advised, if you were about to face off against someone, to wait in opposite rooms to avoid any high tensions. 

But as everyone began to enter the rooms Midoriya noticed Todoroki storm off down the hall. This gave him pause. 

“Kero?” Tsuyu asked, when she noticed he wasn’t following her in. “What’s up, Midoriya?”

“I... think I’m going to take a walk,” he lied, “clear my head a bit. It helps me think better.”

“Kero,” she ribbited, “don’t get too distracted, you’re up first.” 

He gave her a small smile. “I won’t. Thanks.” 

Midoriya paced down the hallways that Todoroki had stormed though, trying not to be too loud so that he could maybe hear someone else’s footsteps or voice. It didn’t take long for him to hear what sounded like arguing from another hallway over. 

As he followed the sound, he recognized one of the voices as Todoroki. But the other voice was recognizable as well... Why?

"You've been holding back." 

_Who is that?_ Midoriya thought, creeping towards the corner.

"It's my choice," said Todoroki, seething. 

The other voice have a laugh full of condescension. "You're denying the power given by your birthright, Shouto." 

_Birthright? This guy is talking like some asshole version of Thor..._

"I can be the number one Hero on my own, father." Todoroki spat. "With just my left side."

_That's his dad? Yikes._

"You can't deny me forever. You were born to be the Number One Hero. We can finally take down All Might!"

Midoriya's curiosity got the better of him and he snuck a peek around the corner. It took all of his self control not to gasp as he his back around the corner.

"Todoroki's dad is... Endeavor?" Midoriya whispered to himself. 

"FIVE MINUTES TO ROUND ONE. MIDORIYA IZUKU AND IIDA TENYA TO GATES 1 AND 2."

That was Midnight's voice over an intercom.

_No time to process this,_ Midoriya gulped. _It's showtime._


	11. High Speed Stakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first round of the Sports Festival! Who wins? Who loses?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing!

“MIDORIYA IZUKU!” Present Mic announced.

Thor, Loki, Valkyrie, and Inko all cheered and clapped, a bit louder than the rest of the audience. 

“And his opponent, his classmate, and class president of class 1-A...IIDA TENYA!!!” 

“So who’s the other guy?” Valkyrie asked Thor. 

Loki interjected, holding up a holographic image of Iida in his palm, conjured with magic. “Iida Tenya. Has engines in his legs, letting him run with super speed. It has limitations, but they aren’t easily exploitable.” 

“Loki,” Thor said, sternly, “have you been scrying on Midoriya’s competition?” 

“Midgardian privacy laws do not apply to the God of Mischief,” Loki replied, haughtily. 

“I’m more surprised you didn’t have anything better to do,” Thor scoffed. Inko laughed, prompting the King of Asgard to look rather pleased with himself.   
\---  
Midoriya set Mjolnir down at the gate of the arena, again feeling like the rule was arbitrary.  
,em>  
As he stepped into the square, he saw Iida on the other side, a look of scary determination on his face. _He’s not going to let me summon Mjolnir,_ Midoriya realized. 

He’d taken notes on all of his classmates Quirks but, even if he hadn’t, Iida had an advantage as long as Midoriya didn’t have his hammer. With his super speed, it wasn’t hard to guess what Iida’s opening strategy was going to be. 

Midoriya had a counter strategy, but he wasn’t confident he could pull it off without the hammer. _I’ll find out I guess._

“GO!” Midnight shouted, and Midoriya crouched down. 

“RECIPRO BOOST!”

As he predicted, Iida took off at full speed, closing the distance between himself and Midoriya in the blink of an eye. 

Midoriya didn’t even bother summoning Mjolnir, but instead jumped and used his mouth to blow a blast of wind below him. It was weak, but just strong enough for Midoriya to vault completely over Iida, leaving him skidding to a halt just in front of the out of bounds line. 

In mid-air, Midoriya summoned Mjolnir and rolled forward onto the pavement. He sprang to one knee and shot a blast of lightning at Iida, but Iida was able to recover and run to the left to dodge. 

As Midoriya tried to scramble to his feet, Iida had already made a half circle around and drove his left knee into Midoriya’s chest. Midoriya sprawled onto his back, blindsided with just how fast Iida was now that they were face to face. 

Iida spun into the air, boosted by his leg jets, and went for a flipping axe kick onto Deku’s head to finish him off. Deku rolled out of the way and, as Iida landed, threw Mjolnir into the taller boy’s chest. 

Iida was flung several feet back from impact, landing on his back but rolling onto his side as quickly as he could. Midoriya recalled his hammer and let loose another bolt of lightning from his weapon, but Iida was able to run out of the way. 

_Can’t hit him with a direct lighting strike like this._ Midoriya grunted, spinning Mjolnir at his side to build up more electricity. _Need to try -_

But his strategizing was interrupted by his need to duck a roundhouse kick aimed for his head. Iida’s right leg was followed by his left leg going for a spinning back kick. Midoriya ducked that as well, but was not expecting Iida to keep spinning and sweep Midoriya’s leg with a cheap arm swipe.

Deku was ready though, turning in the air and flying off horizontally. Iida wasn’t having it; he managed to grab Deku’s leg, run five feet backwards, and use his momentum to hip toss Midoriya onto his back. 

Midoriya made a gasping noise as the air left his chest, but kept his eyes open. He saw Iida going to a flipping axe kick again and raised Mjolnir. A wild, uncontrolled lightning blast erupted in a spread pattern over his head, striking Iida and flinging him off to the side. 

_Got to finish this now_. Deku grit his teeth and rolled to his feet, _if I slow down anymore it’s over._

Iida was trying to recover himself as Deku leapt into the air, spinning Mjolnir at his side as it crackled with electricity. As Midoriya brought his hammer down to strike the taller boys’ chest, Iida was able to roll out of the way. 

Deku had anticipated this and, as Mjolnir struck the pavement, he sent lighting crackling along the ground in all directions. “LIGHTNING SPHERE!”

It worked; while Iida could dodge direct attacks, a sphere of lightning rose up around the two. Not expecting an area of effect attack, Iida was caught up in it and zapped again.

The lightning fell as quickly as it rose up; a bigger sphere was harder to maintain than a simple blast. Still, Iida was paralyzed long enough for Deku to get up charge towards him with Mjolnir spinning once more. 

“I SAY THEE GO BEYOND!” Midoriya screamed, swinging Mjolnir sideways into Iida’s chest. Sparks crackled on impact and Iida was sent flying out of the combat zone into a heap on the grass.

The crowd roared with excitement as Midnight called the match to a close.

“WHOA! A QUICK MATCH WITH NONSTOP ACTION FROM START TO FINISH!” Present Mic crowed. “What do you have to say about your students, Eraserhead.” 

“Their forms are sloppy,” Aizawa critiqued, “but the no nonsense approach is a good attitude to have in a fight.”

“Ooooh YYYEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”   
\---  
“HAHA, That’s my boy!” Thor yelled, on his feet and cheering wildly. Inko was standing next to him, cheering and crying incoherently. Loki and Valkyrie exchanged glances and rolled their eyes, but they were grinning all the same. 

“He’s quick to switch tactics when things aren’t working,” Loki pointed out, “he’s more clever than you were at that age.”   
\---  
Miodirya walked off the arena and approached Iida with Cementoss and Midnight. Iida was squirming around on the ground, but seemed to be alright. Hesitantly, Midoriya walked up and offered Iida a hand up.

The two made eye contact, Iida thinking about what to do. “I didn’t know about your Lightning Sphere.”

“I uh... didn’t know about your Recipro Boost,” Deku said, mouth twitching into a small grin. 

After a pause, the two burst out laughing, and Iida accepted the hand up.

“Such camaraderie!” Midnight squealed excitedly, drawing an eye roll from Cementoss. 

“Well, I’ll just have to try some different strategies next time,” Iida sighed. 

“I look forward to it,” Midoriya laughed as the two began to walk off. 

As they entered the arena though, Iida grabbed his cell phone from an attendant and looked at it with concern. “You okay?” Midoriya asked. 

“Y-yeah.” Iida replied. “I’m afraid I must take this. Excuse me.” 

Midoriya watch his friend go, a bit concerned, but headed towards a waiting room to watch Ashido take on Hatsume. As he approached a voice called out from another corridor. 

“Hey, Midoriya.” 

He whipped around to see Todoroki leaning against a wall. Midoriya stiffened, remembering the conversation he’d overheard, giving him a glimpse into the complicated family life Todoroki possessed. “Yeah?” 

“Can we talk a minute?” 

Deku hesitated. This was by and far much more amicable than Todoroki had seemed a few days ago so, Midoriya nodded and followed Todoroki a bit further down the hall. 

Todoroki looked around to make sure they were alone, but then looked at his feet wordlessly. After a few uncomfortable moments of silence, Midoriya furrowed his brow. “Hey... look, I know what you were saying about me being All Might’s favorite, but there’s really -”

“Do you come from a line of Thor’s bastard love children?” 

The question took Deku off guard completely and he dropped Mjolnir on the ground next to him. “WHAT?!” 

“It’s pretty obvious,” Todoroki shrugged. “We’ve all studied Heroics History. Your powerset and the hammer are just like that old Avenger. Only you and All Might have been able to lift that hammer. I was there. So you two must come from secret lineage dating back to when that Thor guy was alive. How else could you have so many Quirks?” 

Midoriya stared at Todoroki, flabbergasted. How could he be THAT far off? “Todoroki, I am 100% not blood-related to Thor.” 

Todoroki stared at him for a minute. “That’s too bad. I figured it’d be an even bigger deal if I beat you if you were the last in a line of Thor’s offspring.” 

Midoriya frowned. “You want to talk about lineage? When were you going to tell everyone Endeavor is your dad?” 

Todoroki’s neutral expression turned into a scowl. “DON’T bring him into this!” 

Midoriya pressed on though. “I heard you guys talking. What is this about? All this number one Hero stuff...?” 

Todoroki shook, hands clenched into fists. “You really want to know... ?”  
\---  
“I can’t believe this match was just the pink girl modelling tech gear for the girl with the goggles.” Valkyrie griped. “I wanted bloodshed!” 

“Even for me... that’s pretty deplorable,” Loki agreed. “We’re here for a show, not a commercial.”

Present Mic announced Monoma Nieto and Kirishima Eijiro out to do battle next. As the competitors made their way out to the stadium, Valkyrie leaned over and asked Thor and Inko, “So what do these two do again?”

“From what Izuku told me,” Inko recalled, rubbing her chin, “Kirishima has a Hardening Quirk that allows him to stiffen parts of his body to be rock solid. And that dreadful Monoma boy steals Quirks for five minutes with physical contact.” 

“Well, sounds like it’ll at least be more satisfying than what we just watched,” Thor said, dryly. 

The match began and Monoma ducked a punch from Kirishima, tagging the redhead’s stomach and stealing his Quirk. That was when the slugfest began, drawing cheers from the crowd.   
\---

“...and that’s why I have this scar,” Todoroki seethed, shaking, “That’s why I have to be the best and destroy you.” 

He walked off, not waiting for Midoriya to respond. Which was probably for the best, as Deku himself was shaking in anger, a million thoughts racing around his mind. 

Like many Pro Heroes, Deku grew up thinking Endeavor was pretty cool - he had more wins on record than almost anyone! But while he always seemed rather dark and impatient, he had no idea what lurked in his home life. 

He knew in a heartbeat that while he had his own childhood struggles being Quirkless, he could always turn to his Mom for love and acceptance. His home life had been his reprieve from any injustice in the world. 

_He’s determined to take me down and only use his ice side just to spite his dad,_ Midoriya thought. The realization just sent more mixed feelings through his head. While it was easier to counter ice as opposed to Ice AND Fire, he felt... insulted. 

Midoriya began walking back to where some of his friends were seated in the stands to see he had missed Hatsume and Ashido’s match (though from what he was told later, it wasn’t much of one), but when he got to the waiting room, he was able to catch the ending to Monoma vs. Kirishima; Monoma’s Quirk Theft ran out just in time for Kirishima to catch him with a left hook right to the jaw. 

“Kero, there, you are,” Asui said. “Your match with Iida was awesome!” 

Deku blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Th-thanks! He gave me a run for my money.” 

“Were you guys talking after?” Uraraka asked. “I thought one of you would have been back sooner.” 

Midoriya furrowed his brow. “No, Iida said he had a phone call to take and I got sidetracked talking to someone. He hasn’t come back yet?” 

Asui and Uraraka shook their heads. Tsuyu pat the seat next to her, “Want to watch the next match with us?” 

Midoriya turned red. There were lots of seats available in the row, but at the insistence that he should sit next to her, he tried his best not to gulp nervously. “S-sure!” 

His flustered demeanor at Tsuyu’s offer dissipated as the next match got underway; Todoroki vs. Sero. Present Mic announced the two and they stood at opposite ends of the fighting arena. 

“I’m not liking Sero’s chances, Kero,” Asui muttered. 

Midoriya mumbled. “Right. Sero is a capture Hero with great maneuverability, but without a lot of things to hook on to, he won’t be able to move around. If they start far away, we won’t be able to snare Todoroki in his tape either, which means he’ll have to get close, giving Todoroki a lot of time to use his ice to -” 

“STOP MUMBLING, NERD!” Bakugou shouted from two rows back. 

“Ah,” Midoriya blushed, “I was being creepy again, wasn’t I?” 

Asui laughed. "No, just mumbling. It's okay.” 

“You guys are totally wrong!” Uraraka said, leaning forward. “Always bet on the underdog! I’ve got a good feeling about Sero!” 

Midnight announced the match to go underway and Todoroki immediately froze Sero in a block of ice. 

Class 1-A sat in stunned silence for a minute, before Present Mic awkwardly called the match. Some people in the crowd started chanting, “Good try!” at Sero

“Man, Midoriya, your mumbling took longer than that match!” Kaminari laughed. 

“Totally saw that coming,” Uraraka claimed, but rubbed the back of her neck as Midoriya and Asui gave her incredulous looks. 

Todoroki walked away from the arena without thawing Sero out, leaving Cementoss to chisel the poor boy out. As this happened, Yaoyorozu got up to head down to her match with Kendo.   
\---  
“I don’t know about Ice Boy,” Valkyrie said, leaning back. “He might just take it.” 

“Midoriya will win,” Thor objected. “I have the utmost confidence in him.” 

“When do you not have the utmost confidence?” Loki sneered.   
\---  
As Momo and Kendo took the arena, class 1-A looked on eagerly. From a few sections over, they could see class 1-B giving them dirty looks. 

“Hey, do any of us know what her Quirk is?” Midoriya asked. 

He looked around to see shrugs from all of his classmates. Even Bakugou had no answer for it. 

“I didn’t really see her use it during the preliminaries or the Cavalry Battle,” Hagakure admitted. 

The match started and the class 1-B president charged at Momo... who seemed to hesitate. 

“What’s she doing?!” Shouji exclaimed. 

“Within Yaoyorozu dwells an infinite realm of choices. To which manner will she combat her foe? Polearms? Blades? Staves? Or is the matter to conjure defense from the stores within her person. Truly the depths of her abilities have left her frozen in nightmarish indecision during the heat of battle - “ Tokoyami began. 

During his rant, Momo had conjured a bo staff and swung for Kendo’s head, but Kendo grabbed it with her own Quirk, which was to grow one of her hands. With an enlarged left hand, Kendo grabbed the staff, ripped it away from Momo, and punched her with a giant right hand. Momo was flung from the ring. 

“Well, shit.” Said Tokoyami. 

Class 1-B erupted into cheers as their sole remaining representative advanced to the next round of the Sports Festival. 

“If that nerd had acted faster, she’d have thought of something better to fight with,” Bakugou scoffed, drawing a few dirty looks from his classmates. 

“He’s right though,” Ashido sighed, quietly. “She got into UA on recommendations, she must be insanely powerful.” 

“I hope she’s alright...” Uraraka said, worriedly. 

“Well, wish me luck, kero,” Asui said, getting up. 

“You’ll need it, facing me!” Kaminari piped in, jamming his thumb into his chest with pride. 

As he took off, Midoriya met her gaze and smiled. “You got this,” he said quietly, so Kaminari wouldn’t over hear. “You’re too awesome to let him get the best of you.” 

She took off and Deku leaned forward with anticipation as he waited for the next round to begin. 

“I’m going to prepare for my own match next!” Uraraka said, standing up. “Cheer for Tsuyu for me, okay?” 

Deku gave her a thumbs up as Present Mic announced Asui, and she hopped out onto the field.   
\---  
“Hey,” Loki said, nudging Thor, “That’s the girl he’s been walking to school with.” 

“How much spying are you doing on him, brother?” Thor asked, but was grinning all the same. 

“Izuku has been walking home with a girl?!” Inko exclaimed. “Why didn’t he tell me?!” 

The fight began and Kaminari unleashed his Ten Million Watt Overload, but Asui avoided it by jumping straight up, right out of the range of the sparks. As she landed, it was quite clear that Kaminari had fried his own brain with the attack. Asui shot her tongue out, wrapped it around Kaminari’s knee, slingshot herself forward, and drop kicked the blonde boy out of the ring.

“Oh, I think we found out why he likes her,” Loki quipped. All three of his companions slowly turned and gave him looks that said, “dude, gross.”   
\---

Midoriya stood up and cheered, along with some of the girls from class 1-A at Asui’s quick victory over Kaminari. Kirishima, who had just climbed the stairs after his earlier match, cheered as well. 

Asui hopped out of the arena to cheers and Recovery Girl came out to help Kaminari to the back while his brain reset. Seeing Kirishima recover, he remembered something and turned to the redhead. “Hey, did you see Iida on your way back?” 

“Hmm?” Kirishima said. “No, I haven’t seen him since you and him had that manly match. Awesome fight, by the way.” 

“Yours too!” Deku replied with a smile, but he couldn’t help but worry further. _I hope he’s alright..._

He looked around and noticed Aoyama hadn’t been around either. But when Present Mic announced his name, he walked out, peacocking to the extreme and flipping his hair constantly. 

Uraraka came out, looking much more determined and focused. Midoriya had seen some glimpses of the girl’s competitive streak, but it seemed to be flourishing in this environment. 

Midnight flagged the beginning of the competition and Uraraka took off like a bat out of hell. 

“She’s just got to get one hand on him and he’s donezo.” Ashido yelled, excitedly.

“With a side of done-ion rings.” Hagakure added. 

Midoriya leaned forward on the edge of his seat, torn on who to root for as his two friends fought. Aoyama fired lasers off left and right, trying to ward Uraraka off. She weaved in and out, keeping low to the ground as she dodged. 

Aoyama jumped straight up as Uraraka got close and fired a laser right at the ground to launch himself up and over her. Uraraka was barely able to roll out of the way from getting torched. Yuga landed sloppily on the ground and rolled to his side, aiming his laser at Uraraka from close range. “You’re mine now, mon ami!” 

“Hey, that kind of looks like what you did in your fight with Iida, Midoriya.” Kirishima pointed out. 

“Yeah, he’s totally using your move!” Ashido agreed. 

Bakugou made a disdainful snort that was just barely noticeable. Next to him, Mineta imitated it for good measure. 

On the battlefield, Uraraka grabbed herself and jumped straight up. Floating over a short-range burst, she released herself down in front of Aoyama and lunged for him. Aoyama was able to jump up and fire another laser, thrusting himself backwards while Uraraka was forced to dodge again. As he recovered, Midoriya noticed he was beginning to slump forward and place a hand over his belt. 

“Looks like his stomach is hurting already, huh?” 

Midoriya jumped and looked next to him. Asui had returned, quietly, and sat next to him. “Y-yeah,” he agreed. “Uraraka hasn’t used her Quirk much. The longer this goes on, the more the fight is to her advantage.” He turned and smiled to her, adding. “Your fight was awesome, by the way.”

She smiled back. “Thanks, kero. Don’t tell Kaminari I said this but, it was pretty easy to figure out his strategy.” 

The two snickered to each other and turned back to the fight. On the field Aoyama looked nervous but, as Uraraka closed in, he decided to pull off a rather tricky attack. 

He jumped into the air, spun at an angle so his laser made a sweep across the arena floor where Uraraka was, and sent chunks of concrete everywhere. He landed, clutching his stomach, but grinned, thinking he had to have gotten her.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Uraraka had grabbed a larger piece of concrete, made it float as she climbed up, and leaped off of it. She came crashing down, drop-kicking Aoyama in the face and knocking him out. 

“Ooooh,” Midoriya and Tsuyu groaned at the same time.

“That... looked pretty painful,” Deku added. 

As Present Mic announced Uraraka as the winner, she helped Aoyama to his feet in a good show of sportsmanship, and the two began walking back. 

It was time for the last match of the first round of the Sports Festival. As they announced Bakugou’s name, he stood up from his seat in the stands and used his explosions to fly down to the arena. 

“Man, Bakugou sure showed those stairs who’s boss,” Asui croaked, dryly. 

Midoria snickered with laughter and buried his face in his hands. He’d grown up so used to everyone worshipping Bakugou’s strength. While no one in class 1-A did that, Asui was always quick witted in snarking out his worst traits. It was something of a reality check. “Oh yeah, growing up, stairs were one of his worst enemies,” he replied, attempting to make a joke. “Right up there with manners.” 

For once, his sense of humor paid off and he was rewarded with Asui laughing as well. 

Present Mic announced the sole representative of the General Studies, Shinsou Hitoshi. 

“Hey, Yaoyorozu told me about this guy,” Ojiro said, leaning forward and talking for the rest of the class. “This guy’s got a brainwashing Quirk. That’s how he tricked her and those class 1-B guys into working with him.” 

“Brainwashing?!” Hagakure exclaimed. “That’s like, totally a villain Quirk, isn’t it?”

“Hagakure that’s so mean!” Ashido scolded. “It’s not like he got to choose it.”

“I could do soooooooo many cool things with that Quirk,” Mineta said, a little too loudly. The rest of class 1-A turned and gave him a look that said, “dude, gross,” prompting him to shrink down into his seat.

As Midnight signaled the start of the match, Shinsou cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled out, “You’re a weakling.” 

A hush fell across the arena at the call out, so everyone could hear Bakugou’s response. “WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU FUCKING EGGPLANT NEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRD?!”

The crowd leaned forward, expecting a fireworks show for when Bakugou would attacked but... nothing happened. 

Bakugou’s eyes went blank and he slacked forward, lazily. 

Shinsou made a command and Bakugou began pacing, slowly, towards the out of bounds line. 

“NO WAY!” Kirishima yelled, standing up. “Come on, Bakugou can’t go out like that!” 

“That Quirk must be voice-activated or something,” Midoriya pointed out, pulling his notebook from his pockets and jotting down some observations. “Shinsou knew Bakugou wouldn’t resist the urge to say something in response to trash talk.” 

Class 1-A began yelling out to Bakugou as he sluggishly stumbled towards the edge of the fighting ring. 

Five steps away. Bakugou’s body was limp and slack. 

Four steps away. A bit of drool dripped down Bakugou’s mouth. 

Three steps away. Bakugou farted. Only Cementoss knew. He kept the secret for years until he was on his deathbed, but that’s a story for another time. 

Two steps away. Bakugou’s fingers twitched. 

At one step away, an explosion rocked the edge of the arena, throwing Bakugou backwards. He slowly stood up, a bit scraped from being thrown across the pavement, and slowly turned to Shinsou. 

Deku had known Bakugou for many years, but this was probably the scariest face he’d ever seen Bakugou make.

“Wait!” Shinsou cried, confused, “How did you break my Brainwashing?!” 

Shinsou received no answer; Bakugou rocketed himself forward with two explosions, and hit the ground running. Shinsou never even had a chance to run before Bakugou latched a hand onto Shinsou’s face and unleashed a giant explosion. The blast threw the General Classes student from the ring, and he bounced along the grass, slightly charred. 

The crowd erupted in cheers as Bakugou let loose a series of explosions skyward. “I EXPECT MORE OF A FIGHT THAN THIS!” He stomped off angrily, already bored with his victory.   
\---  
“BOOO!” Thor yelled from the stand, prompting Valkyrie and Loki to roll their eyes. “KACHOW SUCKS!”

From a few rows down, amidst cheering, Mitsuki turned around angrily. “SHUT UP YOU FAT HOBO!”

Valkyrie quickly reached out and grabbed Thor’s arm as he stood up furiously. “Don’t.”

Thor glared the woman down, but kept quiet. 

Inko leaned over and whispered, “She’s... she’s actually very sweet about matters not involving her son.” 

\---

Class 1-A clapped, a bit confused with his post-match reaction, and Midnight announced a brief intermission as well as other events that all of the first years could participate in. Midoriya stood up to stretch his legs. “I should be ready, I’m up first,” he said to Asui. 

Ashido had overheard him and stood up from down the row. “You better be ready, Midoriya! Because you’re up against me and don’t think I’ll take it easy on you because you’re cute!” 

She skipped off the other way and Midoriya’s face turned a luminescent red. Next to him, out of his line of sight, Asui puffed her cheeks out, uncomfortably. 

_Great,_ Midoriya gulped. _That’s going to make fighting a lot trickier..._


	12. Round Two: This Time It Is Not Round One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Round Two of the Sports Festival, featuring Deku versus Ashido.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing

“AND THE HAMMER MAN WITH THE HAMMER PLAN, MIDORIYA IZUKU!” 

Deku grimaced at the terrible way Present Mic had introduced him, but stepped out into the sunlight. He set Mjolnir down at the entrance as asked of him, running through what he knew of Ashido’s Quirk in his head. 

“AND THE ACIDIC HEROINE THAT CAN MELT HEARTS AND STEEL BEAMS, ASHIDO MINA!”

_Wow, he’s really bad at this,_ Deku thought, a bit sidetracked. 

As he stared at his opponent, a plan was formulating already in his mind. She could use her acid to slide, sure, but her mobility was nowhere near as good as Iida’s. He could summon Mjolnir and zap her, for sure. 

Midnight signaled the beginning of the match and Ashido began charging towards Midoriya, using her acid to create a slide for herself. For as fast as she was, Midoriya was still able to summon Mjolnir and send a bolt of lightning right towards her. 

But she curved her the flow of acid of her upwards and stopped a wall of it in front of her with her hands. It turned thick and rubbery and the lightning struck it ineffectively. 

_Shit,_ Deku thought. 

She immediately jumped to another slide and began making towards Deku again. He tried another bolt of lightning but she again created a shield of a thick, rubbery basic solution to stop the lightning. 

Midoriya began circle strafing the arena as she started to surf again. 

“Come on Midoriya, you didn’t really think I wouldn’t figure out a way to stop your lightning, did you?” She taunted as she began sliding up to him. 

_Acids and bases conduct electricity as an aqueous solution,_ he realized, _but if they’re rubbery like that, they’re going to be terrible conductors._

Before he could think of a counter strategy, Ashido was already on him and ducked low. She went for a breakdancing leg sweep kick. Midoriya was able to backflip over the attack and used a gust of wind to both knock her away and launch himself upwards.

Ashido skid along the pavement but was able to create an acid slide to steer herself away from the edge of the ring. 

Deku landed a good twenty feet away and, as soon as he did, threw Mjolnir at Ashido, hoping he could knock her out of the ring. 

But as Mjolnir approached her, she threw a wall of acid up and turned it thick and sludge-like to encase the hammer. She stopped and looked at it for a second. “Huh, that should totally be melting.” 

Deku panicked for a second and tried to recall Mjolnir. It began pulling against the thick sludge but it was taking some time to free itself. 

Mina noticed right away and took off towards Midoriya once more, hoping to catch him defenseless. 

_Need to keep her at bay,_ he realized, backpedaling with his right hand extended for his hammer. _Just need to make her pause._

He strained internally as she drew near, trying to draw the flow of lightning within himself. Without Mjolnir it was a lot harder to feel the electricity in his veins. Still, he was able to thrust his left hand forward and shoot a weak jolt of electricity - enough to make Mina have to stop in her tracks and throw up a shield for herself. 

With a loud, “pop,” of suction, Mjolnir unjammed itself from the goop and flew back into Midoriya’s hand. “Gross,” he muttered, seeing the thick, pink sludge on top of it and shaking it off a bit. 

Mina broke into a quick slide and tried to uppercut Midoriya as she got close, but he jumped backwards out of the way. Before he could attack again, Mina did a spinning kick in the air, shooting acid at Deku. He was barely able to roll out of the way, the liquid sizzling against the pavement just where he had been. 

_Her attack pattern is predictable,_ Midoriya realized. _Maybe I can..._

As Ashido skated towards him again, he spun the hammer in preparation. While she was a few feet away, he slammed Mjolnir against the pavement as hard as he could, shattering the cement and sending a deep fissure down the arena. 

Ashido’s balance was lost as her acid slipped down the crack and she crashed on the ground. Midoriya unleashed a large blast of lightning from Mjolnir, knocking her out. 

“AND MIDORIYA IZUKU WITH THAT ELECTRIFYING VICTORY!” Present Mic screamed for the crowd, who cheered. 

Midoriya let out a sigh of relief. “Good thing that worked...”

As Recovery Girl came out to help Ashido off the field, Midoriya made his way back into the stadium, ready for a break before heading to the semi finals. 

What he wasn’t expecting was to pass Endeavor, staring right at him. If he had met Endeavor literally any other day, he’d be going into fanboy Hero mode, but now he was stuck with a wide-eyed expression, unsure of how to feel. 

“Good job,” Endeavor said, his tone somewhat condescending. Midoriya reasoned he could just be imagining the tone.

“Th-thanks,” Izuku replied, shakily.

“You’re a powerhouse, coming out here like some historical Hero,” Endeavor chuckled. “What was the hammer Avenger? Poseidon?” 

Midoriya’s eyebrow twitched, somewhat angrily. THAT was definitely condescending. 

“Give my boy a good fight,” Endeavor laughed. “He won’t live up to my potential without one.” 

As Endeavor turned to leave, Midoriya blurted out. “I’m not an Avenger.”

Endeavor turned and gave Deku a small sneer. “Obviously, you’re just a -”

“And Todoroki isn’t you,” Midoriya added, calming his wild nerves. “He already has way more potential than you anyway.” 

He turned and walked down the corridor towards the stands before Endeavor could answer, fuming.   
\---  
Loki and Valkyrie exchanged confused glances; Inko was sobbing tears of joy in a near-hysterical level, while Thor just pat her back like this was the most normal thing in the world. 

“I’m kind of glad I don’t have kids,” Loki muttered under his breath.

“I’m also glad you don’t have kids,” Valkyrie smirked.   
\---  
As Midoriya rejoined his friends in the stands, a few of his friends gave him a cheer. 

“That was pretty awesome,” Uraraka said as he took his seat. 

“Thanks,” he replied, out of breath. He looked around a bit. “Where did Tsuyu go?”

“Her match is right after Todoroki and Kirishima, so she’s getting herself ready to take on Kendo,” his brunette friend answered. 

Deku tried to hide his disappointment. “Well that makes sense. You and Aoyama had a pretty cool fight too, where’s he?” 

Uraraka gave a small frown. “He stayed in Recovery Girl’s office for his stomach pains. He might have overdone it a bit.” 

Deku nodded as Present Mic introduced Todoroki and Kirishima to do combat in the next round. 

“Think Kirishima will have better luck than you, Sero?” Asked Kaminari, who had gotten his brain back in working order. Sero looked none too pleased. 

“You’re one to talk,” Jirou scoffed, drawing a few chuckles from the rest.

“GO!” Midnight yelled. 

Todoroki sent wave of ice with his foot, looking to make a wall to trap Kirishima in. But what he, and half the crowd, was not expecting was for the laid back and calm Kirishima to make a roaring sound and begin charging through the ice, fully hardened. 

“DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME, MAN!” Kirishima screamed, “THAT’S NOT MANLY!” 

Todoroki’s usually composed face briefly flashed with concern as Kirishima continued to smash through the ice he sent his way. His brow furrowed and as Kirishima approached, he threw out his hand and froze Kirishima’s legs. 

Kirishima punched the ice around his legs as Todoroki slid away. 

“GET HIM KIRISHIMA!” Ashido yelled from the stairs as she rejoined the rest of class 1-A in the stands. 

“That spiky-haired extra is tougher than he looks,” Bakugou snorted.

“Hey, Uraraka,” Midoriya asked, “does it look like Todoroki’s slowing down a bit?”

Uraraka turned to him, brows furrowed, and looked back out to the arena. “I mean, maybe a bit? It’s hard to really tell from here.” 

Deku pulled out his phone and zoomed in down towards the fight. Kirishima was pressing the attack, lunging for Todoroki, who was backpedaling away from the redhead, throwing up ice walls with his left hand. It was no use, Kirishima was breaking through every single one. 

“STOP RUNNING AWAY!” Kirishima yelled. He threw a right haymaker for Todoroki’s face, but Todoroki caught it with his left hand and froze their arms together. For a brief moment his right hand twitched and a small spark emerged.

But he recalled the flames almost immediately. 

Kirishima grunted in anger and broke free and Todoroki created a slide of ice to create some distance. 

The crowd was going nuts; Todoroki was a sure favorite to win the Sports Favorable, according to all betting odds. To see him on the ropes from this assault was exhilarating.

As Kirishima punched through another thin wall of ice, Todoroki pounced. He grabbed Kirishima’s face with his left hand and froze him from the top down. 

Midoriya could tell, through his zoomed camera that Torodoki’s left arm, all the way up to his jaw line, was starting to frost up. 

The ice covered Kirishima completely, though Todoroki left a hole for his face. He struggled, but he couldn’t bring his body to Harden enough to break free from the hold. 

“Damn it,” Kirishima groaned, “... you got me.” He looked Todoroki in the eye. “I’m out of juice, man. You win.”

“THAT’S THE MATCH!” Present Mic screamed for the crowd, and they exploded with excitement.   
\----  
“So this Ice Guy, he’s the one who called out Midoriya?” Valkyrie asked.

“Right,” Inko confirmed.

“And he has a Fire ability from his right hand side as well?” 

“Right,” Thor said. 

“So everyone knows about it, why isn’t he using it?” Valkyrie questioned. “It’s not like it’s some secret weapon or something. He could have toasted that guy really quickly.”

A wave of silence washed over the four until Loki cleared his throat uncomfortably. 

“Daddy issues,” he muttered.

“What?” Thor asked.

Loki just turned and gave him a serious look. “That kid’s family is messed up worse than ours. Trust me, I can tell.”

The two fell quiet and turned back towards the stadium.

“Oof.” Thor said, quietly.   
\----  
Deku and Uraraka sat on the edges of their seats as Present Mic announced Kendo out first. 

The section of students for class 1-B stood up and cheered loudly. As they sat down, Present Mic shouted Asui’s name, introducing her as the fleet-footed frog heroine. 

Deku and a few others in Class 1-A stood up and cheered for her, but after a moment Midoriya realized he never sat back down with the rest of them. 

“DOWN IN FRONT, DORK!” Bakugou shouted, throwing an empty water bottle at Midoriya’s head. He missed by a foot, because it was empty and got caught by the wind. The message was still received though and Izuku sat back down, embarrassed, as a few of his classmates snickered. 

“I think we know who Midoriya is rooting for!” Ashido said teasingly. 

“O-o-of course I’m going to c-cheer f-f-for our classmate!” Deku replied, hoping his face wasn’t turning red. 

“Look how red your face is!” Ashido laughed. “I’m just teasing you because you won our match.” She stuck her tongue out at him, playfully. 

The match began, drawing everyone’s attention to the arena itself. Asui started things off the way she finished the last match; she shot her tongue out and wrapped it around Kendo’s knee, and used that to rappel towards her opponent.

Though Kendo’s knee buckled, she was prepared, enlarging both her hands and covering her body with them. Asui’s dropkick was blocked by Kendo’s hands and the president of class 1-B flung them apart quickly, sending the frog heroine flying. 

Tsuyu was almost flung out of the ring but was able to shoot her tongue out, catch the side of the ring, and pull herself inside of it as her classmates cheered. 

But as Asui landed, Kendo had already closed the gap, hoping she could force Asui out of the ring with her giant fists. As she got close, Tsuyu jumped to the side, clearing a good ten meters away from Kendo, who had to stop herself from running out of the ring. Tsuyu took the opportunity to grab her opponent’s leg with her tongue again, but Kendo immediately turned, grabbed Tsuyu’s tongue with her enlarged fists, and pulled her in with a large tug. 

Asui left her feet, unprepared, and got clubbed with a giant right hook from Kendo. Asui bounced across the pavement to the middle of the ring. 

Kendo charged the center of the ring and slammed her enlarged right hand down onto the ground, Tsuyu just barely rolling out of the way and onto all fours. The frog-like girl sprang forward, thrusting her feet forward and kicked against Kendo’s shoulder and midsection, throwing the redhead back across the ring. 

Kendo bounced off the pavement, turned in the air, and enlarged her hands against it to catch herself in a handstand as Tsuyu charged towards her. Kendo flipped forward onto her feet and then used both hands to grab Tsuyu. Asui’s head poked out from the top of Kendo’s clenched hands, struggling. 

“Give up!” Kendo commanded, squeezing lightly to put the pressure on Asui. 

Asui croaked defiantly.   
\---  
From the stands Midoriya’s mind was whirring. “If only they were in their Hero costumes, this would be a lot easier for Tsuyu.”

“What do you mean?” Uraraka asked. 

Midoriya blushed, realizing he’d have to explain. “W-well, as a frog, her body would be able to naturally lubricate and slip out of the situation. But the gym clothes restrict that.” 

“Mmm, self-lubricating Tsuyu,” Mineta moaned from a few seats back. Again, the rest of class 1-A turned to give him a disgusted look.

“You always take things too far, man,” Kaminari sighed. 

“Shut up, Mineta,” Bakugou scoffed. 

“...Hey, Uraraka, isn’t your match with Bakugou next?” Midoriya asked, turning back and realizing the two were still present in the stands. 

She nodded, nervously. “Y-yeah. I should go get ready...” She stood up and shakily made her way towards the stands. 

Midoriya stared after her for a moment, a bit taken aback by her change in attitude. She was so ready for her match with Aoyama but...

He turned back and stole a glance at Bakugou, who looked just as intimidating as ever. 

_I hope she’s alright,_ he thought, putting his attention back on Asui.   
\---  
“Come on, I don’t think you want to see how hard I can squeeze here!” Kendo growled. 

Asui ribbited again defiantly, reared her head back, and spit some low-level poison at her opponent’s face. The sickly-yellow liquid hit Kendo’s face with a splat and Kendo immediately yelped in pain, dropping her opponent. 

Tsuyu reared back on all fours for another leaping kick, but the blinded Kendo was not going to leave herself open long; she began swinging wildly, forcing Asui to back up to avoid the blows. 

As they backed towards the corner of the ring, Asui got an idea; she jumped forward, low to the ground. “DOWN HERE, KERO!” 

Kendo instinctively slammed her fists down onto the pavement, dislodging chunks of cement as Asui jumped backwards to dodge. Asui used her tongue to grab the biggest chunk of cement she could and, with a spin, threw the piece of pavement back at Kendo. It struck the president of class 1-B’s legs and sent her face-first onto the ground, her hands shrinking momentarily. 

That was all it took though; Asui shot her tongue out and wrapped them around Kendo’s forearms, picking her up and tossing her a few feet to the side, out of the ring, and out the grass. 

“Ring out!” Midnight called, “That’s the match!” 

The crowd erupted into cheers as Asui sighed in relief. 

“WHAT A RIBBITING MATCH, WOULDN’T YOU SAY ERASER?!” Present Mic shouted.

“I hate you,” Aizawa sighed.   
\---  
Deku stood up and cheered with the rest of class 1-A, except for Bakugou, who took off to make it to the arena below. 

“You going to get her flowers for that win, Midoriya,” Ashido teased, causing him to blush fiercely. 

“Leave him alone!” Hagakure laughed, “They might have to fight in the finals, after all!” 

Midoriya’s blush subsided and he realized that this was true; provided he could make it past Todoroki in the semi-finals, Asui would be facing the winner of the upcoming Bakugou and Uraraka match to determine the finalist.

He watched as Asui helped Kendo up and gave her pointers on getting the poison out of her eyes. The crowd cheered again and Cementoss repaired the arena for the next match. 

“AND FOR OUR NEXT MATCH, THE GIRL THAT WILL BE DEFYING GRAVITY, URARAKA OCHAKO!” 

Uraraka marched out to the ring, practically looking like a different woman; Midoriya was shocked to see all traces of nervousness gone from her face. In its place was a steely determination.

“AND THE STUDENT WITH THE EXPLOSIVE PERSONALITY, BAKUGOU KATSUKI!” 

From the hallway to the back, Bakugou used a single explosion to throw himself into the ring. 

Midnight signaled the match to begin and Uraraka took off running, keeping low to the ground, just as she had done against Aoyama. Bakugou took a defensive stance and raised his hands. As Ochako approached, Bakugou unleaded a blast, sending rubble and debris everywhere. 

This repeated, sending dust and concrete everywhere, Bakugou tearing up the arena to keep Uraraka at bay. 

Deku was on the edge of his seat, exhilarated as his friend kept Bakugou on the defensive. At one point, she had thrown her jacket into the air as a diversion and tried to tag Bakugou, but he was able to see through the tactic.

He jumped as Asui sat down next to him. "Sorry, kero. Didn't mean to startle you."

"No worries," he assured her, "you were too cool against Kendo!"

"She was pretty tough," Asui smiled slightly, but turned to the match. "Uraraka is looking great out there."

After an unrelenting attack, Uraraka suddenly jumped back from Bakugou and put her hands together. "Release!"

Midoriya looked up to see he wasn't the only one who could create weather; Uraraka had spent the match making as much rubble and rock levitate as possible. At her command, cement began raining from the sky down towards Bakugou in a makeshift meteor shower. "Whoa..."

"That's so cool!" Tsuyu ribbited. 

They watched in awe, expecting Bakugou to get pelted -

BOOM!

But instead Bakugou unleaded a flurry of explosions, bigger than Deku had ever seen him use before, blasting the chunks of rock from the sky. 

Unfazed, Bakugou looked to Uraraka... Who collapsed from exhaustion. 

"THAT'S THE MATCH!" Present Mic yelled, "WHAT A SHOWING!"

As the crowd cheered, Asui and Midoriya leaned back, somewhat disappointed. But as they did, they down to see Bakugou was staring right at Asui specifically.

"You're next," he mouthed to the frog-like girl.

Deku gulped, but Asui scoffed. "You know, kero, Bakugou thinks he's so scary."

Midoriya chuckled a bit as the ring was cleared for the next round, which would begin after an intermission and some side events. "You don't think he is?"

"I mean, he kind of is," Tsuyu admitted. "But if he thinks I'm going to let him get to me, he's got another thing coming." She turned to Deku. "I know you grew up with him but cheer for me to kick his ass, okay?"

Midoriya turned bright red once more. Behind Asui, Ashido was making kissy faces at the two to embarrass him. 

"O-of course Asui - I mean, T-Tsuyu!" He stuttered. 

He looked out at the crowd, knowing that his mom and Thor were there to watch him.

_But first I need to get past Todoroki..._


	13. Elements Ablaze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todoroki and Midoriya go head to head! and does Bakugou get his revenge against Asui?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own none of these characters.

Midoriya stood at the entrance to the arena, his breath shaky. 

_I’ve fought dragons, frost giants, even villains, he thought, trying to keep his hands still. But I can’t remember the last time I was this nervous for a fight._

Maybe it was because no ones life was on the line or because he knew Todoroki’s complicated upbringing. He swallowed his nerves, remembering that he needed to keep to Todoroki’s right.

He heard Present Mic announce him and, in his jittery anxiousness, he only half-heard whatever terrible moniker the teacher had given him. He set Mjolnir down on the grass and walked onto the cement arena. 

“HE’S HOT THEN HE’S COLD, TODOROKI SHOUTO!” 

Todoroki made his way out, never once taking his eyes off Midoriya with an icy glare. The malice in his gaze was almost palpable, but it sparked a new feeling in Midoriya’s gut. 

_This is kind of bullshit,_ Midoriya realized, gritting his teeth right back. _Acting like fighting me is going to fix his daddy issues? I’m the God of Thunder and he’s going into this at half strength? I never asked for -_

“GO!” Midnight cried, interrupting his thoughts. 

Midoriya jumped and raised his hand, staring down the wall of ice rushing towards him. 

Icicles climbed his legs and enclosed his body, ensnaring him in place. He gasped as the air around him was solidified and began to encase his body, freezing him in place and dropping his body temperature. He couldn’t feel his legs as the ice climbed past as his eyes.

But he could feel Mjolnir break through the enclosure, shattering part of the glacier that hard formed around him. The lightning in his soul swelled at it’s touch. 

Midoriya was the God of Thunder. 

As the audience wondered if the match was over, a lightning bolt crashed from the clear, blue sky and struck the mountain of ice Todoroki had created in his rage. It exploded into millions of fine crystals and mist as Midoriya stepped out, eyes glowing blue with electric power. 

“Nice try,” Midoriya snarled. 

Todoroki glowered right back, throwing his left hand forward again, sending ice streaming forth. 

Deku wasn’t having it, throwing Mjolnir at his opponent. The hammer smashed through the ice attack and blasted Todoroki in the chest, throwing him on his back. 

Midoriya was already charging forward as he recalled Mjolnir to him. Catching it, he charged it with electricity and jumped into the air, looking to bring the hammer down on Todoroki with an electrified smash. 

Todoroki’s eyes widened and he rolled onto his right side, using his left hand and leg to generate a dome of ice to protect himself. 

Deku hammered the barrier and it exploded as before, sending electricity scattering through the air. But Todoroki was standing on the other side and shot a pillar of ice out of his left hand. It grew jagged and splintered, pushing Midoriya into the air, cutting up his gym clothes and cutting his shoulders. 

Groaning, Deku smacked Mjolnir into the side of the pillar and sent lightning through it, zapping Todoroki and causing him to drop the attack as he collapsed to the floor in pain. 

Deku pried himself off the pillar and landed on the arena floor, panting, as Todoroki got up. Their eyes met, exchanging death glares again, and the two charged forward towards each other. 

As they met up, Todoroki waved his left hand in the air to create a trail of spikes, but Deku simply smashed through them with a downward swing of Mjolnir. “It’s not going to work, Todoroki.” 

Todoroki jumped backward and stomped down on the ground, causing an ice slick to slide out. But as it approached Deku, he slammed his hammer against the ground, sending a wave of electricity up the ice, shattering it. “STOP HOLDING BACK!” He screamed. 

“I don’t need my father’s power to be the best!” Todoroki sneered, coldly, but he was already starting to frost up and slow down. As he lifted his left hand to attack again, Midoriya swung Mjolnir, the hammer smacking against Todoroki’s wrist and breaking it. The taller boy howled in pain as the audience groaned sympathetically. 

“It’s YOUR POWER!” Midoriya yelled. He dropped Mjolnir to the ground and balled his hands into fists. In his rage, his electricity was only slightly weakened as it coursed up his arms. He swung a right haymaker across Todoroki’s scarred eye, sparks crackling as the taller boy yelled backwards. “How can you be a Hero if you don’t give it your all?!” 

Enraged, ice encased Todoroki’s entire left arm and he returned the punch, hitting Midoriya on the side of the head and sending him crashing to the ground. “Don’t sit here and act like you know the shit my father put me through!” 

Todoroki punched downwards at Deku, but the green haired boy rolled out of the way onto his knees. The ice around Todoroki’s hand shattered, and he screamed in pain at his broken wrist. Deku lunged forward and buried his fist into Todoroki’s stomach, causing the taller boy to double over in pain. “You’re right! I don’t!” Deku growled, stepping forward and uppercutting Todoroki with his other hand. Electricity ran through Todoroki and he was flung a few feet into the air. He created a slide under his left foot and slid a few feet away from Midoriya. 

Midoriya summoned Mjolnir back to him. “But is that who you want to be? Some half-assed hero who holds back because of the shadow placed over you?” He began spinning Mjolnir at his side, lightning crackling around him. “Or make your own legacy to be the best hero possible?” 

As Midoriya charged his next attack, he could see the gears turning behind Todoroki’s eyes. Just as he was preparing to unleash a lightning blast, he could just barely hear Todoroki mutter: “Fine.” 

Before Deku could raise his hammer for a lightning strike, a wave of fire came careening towards him. He was barely able to spin Mjolnir in front of him to create a wind barrier at the last second. Even still, flames licked over the circumference of his hammer, causing sweat to explode from his pores. 

_Maybe that was a bad idea,_ he thought through clenched teeth. 

Todoroki was on his feet, approaching with his right hand extended, and left hand limply tucked towards his stomach. The flames only grew more intense as he got closer.

Making a split second defensive decision, Midoriya pulled Mjolnir over his head and flew up into the air, cringing as the fire licked his knees and ankles. 

“YOU’RE RIGHT MIDORIYA!” Todoroki shouted as a grin spread across his face. He waved his right hand, and wall of fire jettisoned towards Deku. The green haired boy-swerved in the air to his left, just barely dodging. “I’M GOING TO BE THE GREATEST HERO! WITH ALL MY POWER!”

Todoroki punched the ground, and a circle of flames surrounded him, reaching up into the sky. It moved outward, giving Deku nowhere to escape. 

“Can’t fly up in time,” he panicked, “which just leaves...”

Deku flew straight down towards the arena grounds, smashing Mjolnir into the pavement. Chunks of debris and rubble the side of chairs flew up from the ground. 

“Hate to steal your idea, Uraraka, but...” 

Spinning Mjolnir in front of him, he created a horizontal wind vortex that pushed the rubble through the wall of fire, cutting a safe opening for him, and pelting Todoroki with the debris. The taller teen staggered backwards. 

Seizing the opportunity, Midoriya unleashed the lightning blast he’d been saving towards Todoroki. Todoroki stomped the ground with his left foot, raising a wall of ice to protect himself, and jumped away from the frozen liquid. The lightning crashed through the ice wall, just barely missing him. But as the ice wall fell, he let loose another massive stream of fire.

This time, Deku was unprepared and the flames washed over him. He screamed in pain as he collapsed to the ground, burnt. As the fire subsided, he still was able to pull himself to his knees. 

“I’m going to be the greatest hero, with my own power,” Todoroki repeated, stepping forward. “And no amount of flying, wind, or lightning can stop me!” 

The short monologue was all Deku needed to see Todoroki had stepped on one of his ice slicks, a small pillar of ice still connected to it. 

Deku threw Mjolnir, and Todoroki immediately braced, until he saw the hammer going for the pillar. His eyes widened a split too second. 

As Mjolnir struck the pillar, electricity exploded out of it, sending the charge through the ice slick and zapping Todoroki. The son of the number two Hero screamed skyward in agony, dropping to his knees as the electrocution stopped. 

Todoroki twitched as he looked up. Burnt and scarred, Deku was already charging towards him, summoning Mjolnir on the way. As the hammer his hand, Todoroki could only muster the energy to mutter, “oh.” 

Deku reached Todoroki and hit him with a hammer uppercut, lightning crackling through the taller boy once more. Finally, Todoroki collapsed on the ground and twitched once before passing out. 

“WE HAVE A WINNER!” Present Mic screamed as the arena erupted into cheers. 

The feeling from the crowd was palpable; this was one of the matches people were waiting for, and it didn’t disappoint the live crowd that day. 

Deku wiped the sweat off his brow and went to check on Todoroki, but he was quickly accosted by Recovery Girl, who had already made her way out. 

“You there!” She huffed, “help me get this boy to the recovery ward, so I can examine both of you!” 

“Both... of us?” Midoriya asked.

“Of course,” she replied, tutting as though this should be obvious. “Can’t have you running around here with burns. Honestly... such a foolhardy event. Sports Festival my bony, old keester...” 

Deku helped Todoroki, now half conscious and mumbling to his feet, and slung an arm over his shoulder. He looked down at the burns over his arm and saw them fading.   
\---  
A few months ago...  
\---  
“My mom is going to kill me when she sees me covered in these burns,” Midoriya cringed, sitting down in front of the throne of Asgard. 

“The flaming skeletons were new,” Thor admitted, collapsing on the throne himself. “Still, you handled yourself well. Can’t expect to fight on a magma planet without a few burns.” 

“I know, but I can only imagine what she’s going to say...” 

Thor leaned forward. “You haven’t noticed it yet.” 

“Huh?” 

Thor shook his head, a grin on his face. “You are deceptively light on your feet, so you tend to dodge or deflect attacks, but just sit here awhile before going home, and hold on to Mjolnir.” 

At first, Midoriya didn’t realize what his mentor meant, but after half an hour, it became apparent; the burns faded away until they were minor markings, barely visible against his skin. “How did this work, Thor?” 

“Contact with Mjolnir accelerates the body’s healing process and removes foreign toxins,” Thor explained. “It’s not perfect; I once knew someone who suffered from cancer and the hammer removed the effects of her chemotherapy because it was a foreign entity.”

As Thor retold the events, his eye fell to the floor, and a certain gloom seemed to surround him. Midoriya knew Thor was a lot of things, but subtle with his feelings was not one of them. “I’m sorry...” 

Thor looked up, shaking himself from the tale. “No matter. While it has some potential drawbacks, Mjolnir will heal you from burns, abrasions, cuts and the like. If a bone is broken, you will still need to have it set, but it will help with that too. Think of it as brute-force healing. Just try not to shattering your arms."

"Oh, yeah, that would be awful." Midoriya laughed.  
\---  
Present Day  
\---  
Midoriya sat on the infirmary bed, one hand on Mjolnir, patiently waiting for Recovery Girl to examine him. He watched the television in the room, waiting for the next match to start. 

By the time Todoroki was secured in his own bed, Recovery Girl walked over to Deku and did a double-take. “Hmm. Doesn’t look like there’s much I can do for you. I must have been mistaken, in my old age.”

Deku looked himself over and saw what she meant; most of his burns were already fading away. “Am I free to go?” 

Recovery Girl still performed a quick examination on him before finally dismissing him and Midoriya rushed down to the one of the arena entrances, wanting to watch from as close as possible. As he reached the clearing, staying as far back so as not to interfere or get in the way of the match, he saw Bakugou had already taken the field, while Asui was hopping out to Present Mic’s announcement. 

“Good luck, Tsuyu,” he muttered, knowing she couldn’t hear him. 

Midnight signaled the start of the match. Bakugou propelled himself forward and Asui crouched down to all fours in preparation. As he approached he threw his hands downwards to hit her with an explosion, but Tsuyu jumped over him, his explosion kicking up dust and debris. 

Bakugou was already turning around and launching himself towards Asui landed in another crouch. “GET BACK HERE, KERMIT!” 

Asui proceeded to jump and Bakugou made a ninety-degree vertical turn, launching himself straight up into the air after her. But Tsuyu had predicted this and shot her tongue down to the ground, pulling herself down to just barely dodge Bakugou. 

Katsuki turned himself in mid air to attack downwards, but he was a bit too late. Tsuyu shot her tongue up, wrapped it around his neck, and pulled Bakugou face-first towards the pavement. Before he hit the ground, he created another explosion under him, stopping Tsuyu’s pull enough for him to land on his feet. Grabbing her tongue, he pulled her in towards him, just as Kendo had done. Taken by surprise, Tsuyu was hit by an explosion as she was within close range of Bakugou. 

She was thrown across the platform, rolling across the pavement, as Bakugou pursued. As Asui stopped rolling and landed on her back, she tucked her knees into her chest as Bakugou drew near, and kicked him in the face with her powerful legs. 

Bakugou was thrust into the air from the force and Asui sprang to her feet. She grabbed him by the neck with her tongue again and pulled him down, this time hitting him in the side of the head with a roundhouse kick. 

It was Katusuki’s turn to hit the ground hard, landing on his side. Asui’s tongue still around his neck, she pulled herself towards him and hit a dropkick on his spine, hoping to knock him out of the ring. But, as Bakugou approached the edge of the ring, he thrust his hands towards the edge and let loose another blast, pushing himself back to the middle of the ring. 

He turned and the combatants met with determined gazes. 

From the entrance way to the field, Midoriya watched intently. Bakugou was normally an intimidating person with his boisterous, aggressive personality but he was at his most dangerous when he was quiet. And he hadn't said anything in awhile. 

Bakugou charged towards Asui, who shot her tongue out for his throat again. But Bakugou pivoted to the side, rolling past her tongue to dodge, and hit it with an explosion. Asui flinched as she reeled her tongue back in and tried to jump over Bakugou once more as he reached her. 

But Bakugou had only used one hand to draw her into the jump; he reached his free hand up and was able to hit against her stomach, unleashing another blast that sent Tsuyu flying back through the air. She crashed against the pavement, hard. 

Bakugou was on top of her in an instant, holding a hand against her forehead. “I’ve got you.” 

What he wasn’t expecting was for Tsuyu to spit poison directly into his eyes and nose. He immediately sprang off of her on instinct and she wrapped her tongue around his waist to throw him.

But Bakugou was quick-witted. Blinded, he used explosions to rocket up into the air. Despite how hard Tsuyu pulled, he ascended, and used his explosions to spin, rapidly. 

Attached to him, Tsuyu got spun through the air a few times in a radius around Bakugou. The crowd gasped as she became a blur, and she finally lost her grip, crashing back onto the pavement below, barely moving. 

In the air, Bakugou stopped, rubbed the poison off his eyes, and spotted Tsuyu on the ground. He rocketed himself to the ground and pounced on her again, this time covering her mouth. He waved Midnight over. 

As the teacher approached, Bakugou growled. “You stole my headband. If you try anything else, I’ll blow your fucking head off. Got it?” 

Asui’s eyes were glazed over though; she was barely conscious. 

“She’s in no condition to fight,” Midnight advised him, “the match is -”

“I WANT HER TO YIELD!” Bakugou turned, screaming. 

Midnight had no time for his shit, her eyes turning cross. “Take a look at her. She can’t.” She furrowed her brow sternly. “Get off her or I will disqualify you.” 

Infuriated, Bakugou rose to his feet. Midnight signaled the end to Present Mic, who wasted no time shouting, “AND WE HAVE A WINNER!” 

The crowd erupted again cheering for the quick and exciting match. Bakugou stormed off the field as Recovery Girl stormed onto it to collect Asui.   
\---  
“Oh dear, that’s Izuku’s friend, isn’t it?” Inko asked, leaning forward. “I hope she’ll be okay.” 

The four fell silent, listening to Midnight announce the small intermission before the finals would take place. 

Thor leaned forward, knowing, that despite all his teasing, Midoriya had grown somewhat close with Asui. _Don’t lose control of yourself, Midoriya,_ he thought, folding his hands in front of himself and resting his elbows on his knees. _I have faith in you._  
\--  
Midoriya knew he only had a few minutes to prepare for his match. But, as he paced back and forth in the waiting room, he was itching to fight. 

He had followed Recovery Girl to the infirmary, but she shooed him out, assuring Midoriya that Asui had a minor concussion and she would be fine after some treatment. 

There were a lot of feelings mixing in Deku’s head, none more troubling than anger and guilt. Anger, of course, that he had watched Bakugou give some he cared about a concussion, even if it was unintentional. But guilt in the fact that Katsuki was carrying a grudge against Asui for stealing his headband... which was Deku’s plan in the first place. 

He had heard Bakugou’s words at the end of the match.

“If you move, I’ll blow your fucking head off.” 

The sentence repeated in his head with each step he took, his knuckles white and shaking slightly. 

Other words and phrases he had heard throughout his life began stacking up in his mind, too.

“Why don’t you kill yourself?”   
“Quirkless.”  
“Loser.”   
“Shitty.”  
“Useless.”   
"Deku."

He was interrupted as Present Mic’s voice echoed through the stadium. “IT’S TIME FOR THE FIRST YEAR’S FINAL ROUND OF THE SPORTS FESTIVAL!”

Midoriya stopped pacing and picked up Mjolnir. 

A small grin spread across his face as Present Mic called his name. 

He was going to enjoy this.


	14. The Finals: Bakugou vs. Midoriya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for the finals. Let's watch!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing

There was cheering on both sides of the competitors, as Midoriya and Bakugou stared each other down at opposite ends of the arena neither of them could really hear it. 

Deku stared Bakugou down, eyes full of an eagerness that was usually reserved for Hero Training. It was an eagerness born from years of being told that he could never be a Hero, that he should quit. That he was lesser than.

Bakugou stared Midoriya back down as well, his eyes full of contempt. Contempt that someone who he had suspected of looking down on him for years was now openly trying to surpass him. It was an offense for which Bakugou Katsuki could not stand. 

“FIGHT!” Midnight cried. 

Midoriya raised his hand for Mjolnir, but as the hammer hit his hand, Bakugou was already there, one hand on Deku’s face, the other on his outstretched arm. “HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM COCONUTS?!” 

Two huge explosions unlike any the crowd had yet seen threw Midoriya backwards towards the edge of the ring. 

Bakugou grinned through the smoke he created, right up until Deku flew back through it, thrusting Mjolnir against his chest and throwing him backwards instead. “I hate them coconuts,” Deku spat. 

Bakugou skidded backwards on his feet, growling all the while. “I DIDN’T COME THIS FAR TO LOSE TO A SHITTY DEKU!” 

Katsuki lunged forward again, moving faster than Deku had ever seen him. He grabbed at the green-haired teen’s chest to blow him to pieces once more. 

_I don’t have time to think!_ Deku grunted as he jumped over Bakugou as an explosion rang out under him. He spun Mjolnir once and threw it down into the smoke . 

Bakugou jumped backwards, dodging the hammer as it shattered the surface of the arena, sending cracks along the stadium floor. “TOO SLOW!” He launched him up into the air after Deku. 

Deku summoned Mjolnir back and shot lightning at Bakugou when he was a few feet away. Bakugou vaulted himself over the lightning and flipped himself right over Deku. 

“YOU ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN ME!” Bakugou screamed, raining a pair of explosions down on top of Deku’s head. There was nowhere to go, and the force of the blasts thrust Deku into the ground. 

Midoriya crashed down to the cement, and stared up at the blue sky for a moment. “... better than you?” 

Bakugou appeared over him in the sky, and began falling towards him with an explosion, looking to repeat the way he had defeated Tsuyu.

Rising to his feet immediately, he spun Mjolnir over his head. Instead of creating a mere wind blast, he created a wind vortex over his head that immediately sucked Bakugou in and spun him place. “You thought I WHAT?!” Midoriya yelled, shaking again. 

Deku swung Mjolnir down, and the vortex snapped down to the pavement, slamming Bakugou against it. 

“You blonde IDIOT!” Deku yelled, jumping into the air, looking to slam his weapon down onto Bakugou’s chest. 

Bakugou blasted himself backwards to dodge the attack, but that was as Deku expected. Midoriya landed on his feet instead and sent a huge blast of lightning that sent Bakugou flying backwards towards the edge of the arena. “YOU ABSOLUTE IDIOT!” Deku roared. “Looked down on you? WITH YOUR POWERFUL QUIRK AND ALL THE PRAISE?!”

Bakugou was up on his feet and charging back at Deku. Deku sent another blast of lightning, but Bakugou strafed to his right, and lunged for Deku’s exposed left side. Midoriya turned to defend himself, but it took too long for him to pivot. Bakugou used an explosion targeting Deku’s open left side to send him flying back. 

Deku hit the pavement hard but pushed himself off immediately and threw Mjolnir at the oncoming Bakugou. Katsuki hadn’t expected such a quick recovery, and was only able to partially dodge Mjolnir as he propelled himself upward; the hammer struck his left ankle, sending him flipping over in the air and onto his back .

As Bakugou struggled to get back to his feet and put weight on his ankle. Deku recalled Mjolnir. The two made eye contact again, and Midoriya spat, “You were the strongest person I knew. Why do you think I followed you around?!” 

“SHUT UP!” Bakugou screamed, and he pushed his hands into the pavement and used an explosion to dislodge a chunk of concrete, just like Deku had done in his match with Todoroki. Using another explosion, he sent rocks and shrapnel towards his green haired foe. 

Deku’s eyes widened and he spun Mjolnir in front of him to push the shower of cement away with a gust of wind. As he did, Bakugou was suddenly approaching from his left again, too quick for Midoriya to change strategies. “You should have never underestimated me!” Bakugou seethed as his hand hit Deku’s cheek and ignited. 

Midoriya flew over the side of the ring, but was able to quickly use Mjolnir to fly up and away from the grass, saving himself from losing. “I underestimated YOU?”

He flew towards Bakugou, who backed up defensively. Midoriya threw Mjolnir down at Bakugou’s head, causing Bakugou to dive backwards. But as Deku had thrown Mjolnir, he dove forward himself, aiming for where he predicted Bakugou would dodge to. 

He had been right; as Bakugou leapt backwards away from the hammer, Deku himself tackled Bakugou to the ground. Deku sat on Bakugou’s chest, Katsuki’s eyes widened as Midoriya’s arms covered themselves in electricity - he seemed to have no problem using his lightning without Mjolnir right now. 

Before Bakugou could raise a hand to defend himself, Deku punched him across the face, sparks crackling off Bakugou’s skin. Both boys could smell burnt flesh as Deku followed up with a punch from his left hand, repeating. “I SPENT MY WHOLE LIFE LOOKING UP TO YOU!” Deku screamed

WHAM!

“YOU HAD EVERYTHING!” 

THUD!

“A NICE HOME! A QUIRK! A FATHER WHO WAS THERE FOR YOU!”

THUD! THUD THUD! Every sentence was punctuated by an electrified fist against Bakugou’s head. 

Bakugou, nose bloodied, looked up at Deku through glazed eyes. Deku met his gaze and finished. “I wanted to BE you Kacchan. You were always what I wanted to be.” 

The dazed look in Bakugou’s face vanished and his usual scowl returned, surprising Deku. “Keep dreaming, Deku! YOU’LL NEVER REACH MY LEVEL!” 

The momentary surprise was enough to Bakugou to put his hands on Deku’s chest and let off a huge blast. 

The crowd gasped in shock as Midoriya was thrown a few feet in the air landed hard on his back, a small trickle of blood coming from his mouth.

Bakugou sprang to his feet, but stumbled as he did as his nose trickled with blood. Still, with Deku stunned, he decided it was now or never. 

Launching himself into the sky, he began rotating horizontally into the air, creating a black funnel cloud for his Howitzer impact move. As he began spinning he launched himself at Deku. 

Deku stood up to see what was happening as Bakugou came rocketing towards him. He stared at the black funnel cloud racing towards him, but merely grinned and wiped the blood from his chin. “Reach you? I ALREADY PASSED YOU!” 

Reaching out for Mjolnir, his eyes began to spark and glow blue as he charged the cloud. As soon as he reached the cloud and saw Bakugou reaching for him, Mjolnir hit his hand and he swung. The hammer slammed into the side of Bakugou’s head, sending a current of electricity through the blonde. 

His attack immediately halted, Bakugou was thrown across the cement, skidding off of it, and onto the grass below. 

“THAT’S IT!” Midnight called, nervously. “If that kept up, we’d have to call the match,” she muttered to herself, relieved. 

Deku collapsed to a knee as he caught his breath, the crowd cheering wildly.  
\---  
“YES!” Thor shouted, jumping to his hands and feet and fist pumping repeatedly. “YES! YEEESSSSSS!” Valkyrie jumped to her own feet and started repeating and echoing the sentiment. 

Inko was sobbing happily next to him, at a loss for words. 

Loki just shook his head as he looked at the other three. Still, he was wearing a smirk all the same. 

A few rows down, Bakugou Mitsuki stood up, yelled, “FUCKING BULLSHIT,” and stormed out of the arena. 

No one noticed or heard her over the cheers.   
\---  
Midoriya was lead to the back of the arena as they cleared out the stage to prepare things for the award ceremony. Even with Mjolnir’s accelerated healing, Recovery Girl still wanted to give him treatment for the rather nasty burns Bakugou’s explosions had done on his left side. 

As he sat in the infirmary, he saw that both Asui and Todoroki had been released, to his great relief. As he waited patiently for the healing hero, she opened one of Bakugou’s eyelids and shined a light at it. 

“Looks like you left him with a concussion,” she said, evenly. 

Deku gulped. “Is he gonna be okay?” 

“He’s lucky that my healing can take care of those, and you managed not to give him a major one, somehow,” Recovery Girl sighed. “Otherwise he’d be out of class for awhile. Come on, let’s get you fixed up...” 

As she began smooching at his wounds (which itself was uncomfortable), Deku stared over at Bakugou somewhat guiltily. He had definitely let a lot of his pent up feelings of resentment and aggression towards Bakugou boil over after what the blonde had done to Asui. 

He wondered if he had perhaps gone too far, but considering the intensity of the fight, things would have only been reversed if he hadn’t. _I’d be the one knocked out here. Probably scarred forever or something._

Deku was cleared not long after and was more than happy to leave the sterility of the medical room. He always hated hospitals. 

Still, he almost ended right back in the medical wing as he walked out of the door; most of class 1-A was waiting for him and nearly gave him a heart attack as they crowded him. 

“MIDORIYA, MY MAN!” Sero screamed, practically bouncing. “THAT WAS THE COOLEST FIGHT I’D EVER SEEN!” 

“YOU PRACTICALLY TORE THE HOUSE DOWN!” Uraraka added, next to the taller boy. 

Most of his classmates added similar praise, and Midoriya could do no more than turn crimson and rub the back of his neck in embarrassment. He looked around and noticed Asui, Iida, and Todoroki were missing from the group. 

Before he could get a word in edgewise to the group, Midnight approached and cleared her throat. “Now now, give the man some room! He needs to come with me for the award ceremony.”

Deku internally sighed in relief at the rescue. “Thanks,” he muttered as they left the earshot of the class. 

“Come now,” Midnight laughed, “if you’re going to be a Pro with those skills, you’ll need to learn to handle the crowds and press.” 

It still felt surreal to Deku; that it was over, that he had won over all the first years at UA. His head still felt airy and blissful, his steps lighter than they had been before any of the other events of the day. And part of him dared not believe that it was real, lest he wake up to find it had all been a dream. Still, he could not stop smiling. 

Midnight led him downstairs, explaining they had a podium set up that would rise from the grounds of the stadium. 

“Oh yeah, I saw that they did that last year!” Deku exclaimed, excitement replacing some of the post-fight guilt and jitters he had. 

Down below the arena, he saw Asui and Todoroki were waiting. As soon as Deku and Midnight entered the room, Asui’s eyes met Deku’s, and she gave him a grin he hadn’t seen on her before. 

_Whoa,_ he thought, losing his breath for a moment before smiling back at her. _I don’t think I need a medal. That’s enough._

“Originally, we would have had these two have a match to determine third and fourth place. But neither of them were cleared by Recovery Girl, so they will both be presented with the third place medal. Anyway, you three wait here,” Midnight advised. “I’ll go see if your classmate is done with Recovery Girl yet.”

As the teacher left, Midoriya turned to his classmates. While they seemed better, Asui had a bandage running up her neck, while Todoroki’s left hand was still heavily wrapped, “Are you guys alright?” 

Todoroki looked hesitant to answer, to Asui piped in first. “Yeah, Recovery Girl fixed me up pretty quick, kero.” Her grin broanded, making Deku’s chest tighten. “Just in time to watch the finals. You were so cool, kero.” 

“Th-thanks Tsuyu,” Deku replied. 

There was a brief pause, Deku and Tsuyu becoming very aware that Todoroki was still there and watching them. 

“Hey, Midoriya,” Todoroki called, finally. 

Deku gulped, hoping he didn’t look as nervous as he felt. While not to the level as his fight with Kacchan, he’d lost his cool and let his emotions get the best of him during his fight with Todoroki, too. “What’s up?”

Todoroki took a deep breath, and to Deku’s surprise, he bowed. “Thank you.” 

“I-I don’t think you should be thanking me,” Deku replied, a bit embarrassed about how formal his classmate was being. “I broke your wrist. I’m sorry.” 

“Well, yeah that wasn’t the part I was thanking you about,” Todoroki smirked, straightening back out. “Just... you were right, out there.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Well... about taking things lightly.” Todoroki admitted, looking to the ground. “I was so caught up in my issues with my father that I was looking down on everyone in the class. Thinking I could steamroll everything with my ice. I was treating everyone as this obstacle to show up Endeavor, and I was being an ass to you as part of it.” Todoroki looked up and his smirk turned into a grin. “Next year, I’ll make sure to tackle this with my full power. You better be ready.”

Midoriya chuckled. “I’ll be ready!” He held out his hand for a handshake. “Let’s get stronger together, okay?” 

Todoroki’s eyes widened slightly. Apparently, gestures of friendship were completely foreign to him. Still, after a pause he shook Deku’s hand, grinning wider. “Sounds like a plan, Midoriya.” 

“Aw, that’s what we like to see.” 

The students jumped as Midnight made her way back, quietly. Bakugou followed behind her, looking down at the ground, silently. “Now, everyone get in your places. Todoroki and Asui, you go to that platform. Midoriya, you in the middle. Bakugou, that one, if you would...” 

As everyone took their spots, Midoriya tried to sneak some looks at Bakugou, trying to figure out what was going on with him. He’d been expecting Bakugou to come in here screaming for a rematch, enraged at the things that had been said. 

Instead, Bakugou stood, unmoving and silent, as the platforms began to rise to the cheering crowd. 

All Might jumped from the stands to the adoration of the crowd, and gave a small speech about the bright future these students inspired as Heroes. Midoriya only caught bits and pieces of it, the feeling of being in a dream returning to him as he looked around to see the cheering crowd. It had been a moment he had dreamed of since he had first watched the UA Sports Festival as a boy. 

As All Might placed the gold medal around his head and embraced him. Midoriya felt the need to rub his eyes as his hero pulled away; it was only then that he realized a few tears had escaped his eyes. 

“Thor chose wisely with you, young Midoriya,” All Might added, so only the two of them could hear. 

“Th-thank you.” Deku beamed.   
\---  
The closing went with a blur; before Deku knew it, he was back in his casual clothes, heading out to the front of the arena. There, waiting for him...

“MIDORIYA!” 

Deku turned and was met with a bearhug from both Thor and Valkyrie. 

It was a heartwarming scene for all the observers.

Including Bakugou Katsuki, who raised his eyebrows at the matter. Growing up, he’d known very well that Midoriya only had his mother around. The few times he’d been to Midoriya’s place as a kid, he’d sneer at Deku for having such a small place, but always loved going over there because the green haired boy had the best All Might toys. 

Earlier in the day, Bakugou had eavesdropped on a conversation Midoriya and Todoroki had, where Deku had been accused of being the love child of Thor. While Bakugou knew this was garbage, this tall blonde stranger hugging Deku made him curious. 

Quickly, Bakugou took out his phone and took a picture of the two. 

This warranted research.


	15. Hero of Thunder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No time to bask in the glow of the Sports Festival, these kids have internships to prepare for!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing

As Midoriya lay on his bed the night after the Sports Festival, he was glad that he had two days to recover while the second and third years had their own Sports Festivals. The day itself, between the fighting and the celebratory feast Thor had prepared in Asgard, left him completely drained of energy. The tryptophan in the turkey might not have helped either. 

His eyes must have closed and he had drifted off to sleep. The vibrating of his phone against his nightstand began to rouse him from his slumber. 

“Yeah... you can see my hammer Asui,” Midoriya muttered as he rolled over in his sleep, trying to shut out the noise. 

But as the buzzing continued, he groggily opened his eyes and reached for the phone. 

His eyes widened in shock - it was actually Asui calling him. And at midnight?!

“H-hello?” He answered quietly; he didn’t need his mom asking him about late night phone calls. 

“Kero, sorry if I woke you, but - but!” Came a frantic voice from the other end of the line.

Deku nearly dropped his phone; Asui almost always sounded calm and level, even in dire situations. It was one of her strengths in hero training. So hearing her so shaken snapped him awake. “Tsuyu, are you okay?” 

“Kero,” she croaked. “Sorry... just... remember when we didn’t see Iida after your fight with him?” 

“Y-yeah, of course,” Midoriya replied. “What happened?” 

“Well... I just heard from Uraraka. It was his brother, Ingenium...” 

Asui spoke slowly and explained in detail all that happened; Ingenium has encountered Stain, villain and Hero Killer. Upon hearing this detail, Midoriya feared the worst, but Ingenium had been one of the lucky Heroes who had lived to tell the tale of the run in with the notorious scoundrel. 

But, luck only gets you so far. The news reports Uraraka had caught had stated Ingenium’s Hero career was all but over; he had been crippled.

Neither Asui or Midoriya spoke for a minute once she had finished retelling the tale. Izuku’s mouth was dry as he tried to shake himself, mentally. He forced himself to swallow. “Has anyone... has anyone heard from Iida?”   
\---

The next morning, Uraraka, Asui, and Midoriya stood outside the Iida residence, and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes, it became clear that no one was home. 

“They’re probably at the hospital still, kero.” Asui reasoned. 

“Should we try and find out which one?” Uraraka asked.

“That seems like a family matter, they probably don’t want to be crowded right now,” Midoriya replied, shaking his head. “We should at least text Iida and see if he needs anything or wants company before barging in on something like that.”

The other two agreed. They all sent Iida messages of varying concern. And while he read all of them, it became clear after an hour they were not going to get a response. 

“Now what?” Uraraka asked. They had migrated to a nearby park as they waited for Iida to reply, and she had taken to levitating as many acorns as possible.

“I think the ball’s in his court, kero,” Asui replied, handling Uraraka another acorn. “I don’t think we should force him to come to us if he’s not ready.”

“Yeah, maybe we should just call it a day. We can ask him in school. If he doesn’t answer us. Here you go Uraraka,” Midoriya said, handing her another acorn.

“This is just a rock,” she replied, but levitated it anyway, “it’s a pretty one though. I guess you guys are right...”

Not in the mood for small talk, the three parted ways shortly after. 

\---  
The three didn’t hear from Iida again until he arrived late to class, extending a bow and an apology to Aizawa. The teacher talked about something that took everyone’s minds off the Stain attacks:

Internships.

“Whoa, look how many internship offers Midoriya, Bakugou, and Todoroki got!” Kirishima said loudly in class after Aizawa had finished his explanation. 

Midoriya sank into his seat, embarrassed at the attention. 

It was the following week for class 1-A, and while some of the excitement of the Sports Festival lingered - all of the class was recognized on the streets and subways - Aizawa was quick to direct the class’ attention towards internships. 

Did he have to show how many internship offers we each got though, Deku thought as he covered his face in his hands. 

“I’ll pass out the papers. You’ll pick your internship by the end of the week, but tomorrow you’ll be picking hero names,” Aizawa droned on, sounding bored. “Midnight will be assisting tomorrow, but you should give it some serious thought tonight.” Aizawa looked at the various papers on his desk and frowned. _Nah,_ he thought. “Iida, as class president, pass these out.” 

Midoriya’s mind raced as a stack of internship offers was plopped on his desk by Iida wordlessly. Iida hadn’t made eye contact with him and that was nagging at him, but Deku had not given much thought to his hero name situation since his prior talk with Thor. And as he skimmed the agencies, his heart almost jumped out of his throat. These were High Profile Hero agencies! He could learn so much from some of these Pros. Did he go for the highest ranked one? Or did he go for one that played to his strengths? Or learn to cover his weaknesses? 

This weighed on his mind for the rest of the day, until Hero Training let out for the afternoon, signaling the time to return home. Unlike most days, Iida was the first one out the door. It probably helped that he was the fastest person in class. Midoriya grabbed his fat stack of papers and rushed out the door. Uraraka and Asui followed suit and were at his side quickly. 

“Iida!” Midoriya called after him in the halls, but the taller boy seemed to just pick up the pace. “IIDA!” 

It wasn’t until they were outside that Asui did something drastic; she shot her tongue out and grabbed Iida’s left arm. He turned, curtly, and looked to his friends without acknowledging them. 

“Midoriya was calling for you, kero,” Asui said as she retracted her tongue. 

“Yes, well, I was ignoring him.” Iida replied, shortly. “On purpose.”

“And I stopped you.” Asui answered, clearly not in the mood for his shit, “on purpose. We’re just trying to talk to you.” 

“We’re just worried,” Uraraka added, her tone a bit more gentler with the circumstances considered. “We can’t imagine what you’re going through.” 

“But if there’s anything we can do to help you...” Midoriya trailed off.

Iida stared at them, his eyes shifting between the three before finally settling on Midoriya. His expression softened a bit. “Thank you... you guys are wonderful friends, but I’m afraid I need to go through this alone.” He gave a small bow, “I’m meeting with my family now though, so I must be leaving. My apologies.” 

He left with no objections from his friends this time, but Midoriya, Uraraka, and Asui couldn’t help but exchange worried glances again. 

“Deku?” 

The three of them jumped, not realizing someone had been listening in. More surprising was that it was Todoroki, who was standing just a few feet behind them. 

“I’m not used to someone other than Bakugou calling me that,” Midoriya replied, breathing a sigh of relief. “What’s up?” 

Todoroki squinted slightly. “Is... is that not your name?” 

Before he could answer, Uraraka piped in, “no, it’s just a nickname Bakugou gave you as kids, right?” 

Midoriya blushed slightly. “I mean... I guess that’s a nice way to put it.” 

“What do you mean, kero?”

“Well...” Deku rubbed the back of his neck. “Growing up, we thought I was Quirkless because mine... developed late. So Kacchan always called me Deku. You know... useless.” 

“Oh yikes!” Uraraka said with a gasp, “I just thought it was cute.” 

“It’s kind of dumb of him though,” Asui argued, “because you kicked his ass.”

The four of them all laughed a bit. “Do you not want me to call you that, then?” Todoroki asked. 

Deku thought a moment. “To be honest, I’ve kind of gotten used to it. And I've been told it means not to give up, which is actually pretty cool.” 

“And it’s still cute!” Uraraka argued, making him blush a bit more. 

“Well, as long as you don’t mind...” Todoroki shrugged. “I was just going to ask about Iida, but you guys beat me to it. You... you have a knack for sticking your nose in other people’s business, don’t you?” 

Midoriya’s blush worsened and he laughed a little nervously. “I-I guess so, huh?” 

To his relief, Todoroki smiled. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. I appreciated it, anyway. I actually wanted to ask you about that.” 

“How so?” 

“It’s about internships...” Todoroki explained.   
\---

Thor Odinson was a lot of things but patient was not one of them. Sitting in the principal’s office of UA didn’t really feel at home either. “I’m still not sure why my input is needed here, All Might.” 

“Like I told you,” All Might replied, coughing and wiping a trickle of blood from his chin. “If you hadn’t grabbed Midoriya as soon as you did, I would have chosen him as the successor of One for All. So I think you have a good eye for this. But...” 

“But...?” 

“Well, I grew up Quirkless, like young Midoriya,” Toshinori shrugged. “And the only two people whoever acknowledged my potential were my own mentor and... well, you. To be honest, your opinion holds a lot of weight for me.” 

Thor was not expecting that answer and was a bit taken aback. He looked down at the files for two students that All Might had narrowed down on the list. After a moment, he looked up. “And you still hold the same opinion you had, all that time? That we shouldn’t combine the powers of One for All and the God of Thunder?” 

“Right,” All Might nodded. “One for All is a stockpiling Quirk, and that much power in one person could be dangerous for a whole lot of reasons.” 

“You have your reasons,” Thor admitted, begrudgingly. “But I don’t know these students. I couldn’t possibly tell you more than you already know.” 

“That’s why I want you to sit in on some of the Hero Training sessions. We can just say you’re an associate from my Hero Agency!” 

Thor made a face like something incredibly smelly had walked into the room. “The King of Asgard masquerading as an associate? That - “

“It will also give you a chance to check on Midoriya’s progress after his own internship.” All Might added quickly. 

“Well that’s not fair,” Thor grunted, leaning forward in the armchair with a big sigh. “Fine. But,” Thor looked up sternly, “You’ve been the Number One Hero in this part of Midgard for years. This self-doubt doesn’t suit you, Toshinori, and I’m not here to hold your hand as you make hard decisions. Are we clear?”

All Might nodded and tried to hide a gulp. Few people could still make All Might nervous, but Thor was one of them. 

The final bell rang for the day, signaling the students would be leaving. 

“I’ll get in touch when the students are back from Internships, so you can help me pick my successor.” All Might advised as the two stood up.

The Symbol of Peace extended his hand, and after a moment of contemplation, Thor shook it before leaving. 

Thor tried to exit as discreetly as possible from the side entrance - though still drawing some looks as a towering blonde man that wasn’t All Might, so he could get back to Asgard. But then he saw a mess of green hair running towards him. 

“Young Midoriya?” He asked. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today.” 

“Thor,” Deku panted, “you’re the one at my school unannounced.”

“Er... well, yeah, that’s fair,” Thor admitted. “What’s up? Looks like you ran over here for a reason.” 

Deku straightened up. “I just... can I talk to you about choosing my Hero name?” 

Thor smiled. “I always have time to give my protege counsel.” 

The two began to walk away from the school, and once out of earshot, Thor asked, “What is it that I can help you with?” 

“Well,” Deku asked, rubbing the back of his neck, “before we get assigned internships, they want us to pick our Hero names so that we can get our first real experiences as Sidekicks. And, at first, I was thinking of using the name Deku.”

Thor shot him a confused look, causing Deku to laugh and continue. “I know. Someone told me it has this alternative meaning of never giving up, and I thought it’d be a good way to inspire hope to people, but...” 

As they walked, Midoriya paused and looked down at his feet. 

“But?” Thor echoed. 

“I... I hate being called that.” Izuku replied. “I don’t want to be Deku any more.”

“Then don’t go by that name,” Thor chuckled, patting his smaller protege on the back. “You hardly need me to tell you not to pick something you hate as a Hero name.” 

“I... I’m getting to that,” Izuku said, hesitantly. “I know... I know that when I first took up Mjolnir, you had said that I’m not you. And I know you didn’t mean that in a mean way or anything... but...” he sniffed. 

_Calm on Midoriya, hold it together,_ he scolded himself. “Even if I’m not you, or as good as you, I wanted to know if you’d give me your blessing to use Thor in my name.” 

Thor took a step back, shocked. “What?”

“Just... people have already made the connection that I’m like you.” Midoriya answered. “You’re such a historical figure. But... you believed in me! When no one else did! When I didn’t believe in me! So... So I want people to believe in the name Thor again! I don’t have to be Thor though, I could be like... Mithoriya if you want or something.” 

Thor abruptly embraced Midoriya, which caused a lot of looks on the street as this tall blonde viking guy hugged a teenager, but most people just walked around it. “Of course you can, my boy! There’s no need to cry about it!” Thor pulled away and turned around, because he most definitely wasn’t crying and didn’t want Izuku to see him crying. Not that it mattered, because he wasn’t. Not at all. “But, let’s be frank,” he said, wiping his eye. “Mithoriya doesn’t sound great. I had another weapon, and I think it might make a good name for you...”  
\---

The next day, Midoriya watched as his friends all picked Hero names. He clapped as Uraraka and Asui picked the names Uravity and Froppy, and held in laughs when Bakugou’s names all got rejected - King Explosion Murder, Lord Explosion Murder, Murderface, Lord Murdersplosion 5000, and Murderboom. For as smart as he was, he wasn’t seeing the common link that was getting his names rejected. 

Iida and Todoroki merely went with their names for the time being, which was acceptable but risky in some ways. 

Finally, Midoriya was called up. 

It struck him as he stood up there that... public speaking had not gotten any easier for him. “So, I gave this a lot of thought... and well, some of you have pointed out that my powers are similar to the legendary Avenger, Thor.” 

Kirishima snapped. “THAT was his name!” 

The class laughed a bit. 

“So, I thought it would be cool to pay tribute to him in my own Hero name, without just taking it. So I named myself after another weapon he used.” 

He scribbled the name on the white board and flipped it around. 

Stormbreaker, Hero of Thunder

“A subtle tribute,” Midnight mused, rubbing her chin, “but it gets the point across. Are you sure?” 

Izuku nodded. The class seemed supportive, though maybe not to the extent of some of his classmates. 

He didn’t think anyone thought anything of it until he left the building with his friends, and someone called out to him.

“Hey, Deku.” 

This time, it was no mistaking Bakugou’s voice. Midoriya turned around to meet his gaze, his friends turning as well with natural curiosity. Bakugou hadn’t said a word to Midoriya since the Sports Festival. He’d actually become rather quiet since the encounter. So to be stopped in such a way was a bit surprising. “What’s up, Kacchan?” 

Kacchan jerked his head to the side, ushering Midoriya over for a private conversation. Waving as his friends continued, Kacchan stood over by a tree as the students filtered away. 

“Your name.” Bakugou grunted. 

There was a pause, Izuku clearly expecting that Bakugou would say more. “... what about it?”

“It’s more than tribute.” Bakugou huffed. “Thor’s still alive, isn’t he?” 

Midoriya paused. “I... I don’t know - “

“DON’T LIE TO ME!” Bakugou yelled, but didn’t make a move to threaten Izuku. Instead, he shows his phone screen to his childhood friend, showing the photo of Deku being hugged by Thor and Valkyrie after the Sports Festival. “You’ve been hanging around this blonde guy for months.”

“Have...” Midoriya squinted, “Have you been following me?”

Bakugou ignored him, and then pulled up a historical photo of Thor, standing with the other Avengers. He held it up to Deku and flipped between the two photos. “That weirdo you’re always with, he looks JUST like Thor. Is it... it it him?” 

Midoriya gulped, gripping Mjolnir a bit tighter. 

“You never...NEVER had a Quirk.” Bakugou frowned, pocketing his phone again. “Then suddenly, you show up with a hammer, shooting lightning.” Bakugou scowled down at Mjolnir. “And no one else can even lift it, can they?” 

“You’re the only one whose tried,” Midoriya answered, lamely. 

“JUST ANSWER ME!” Bakugou yelled, punching the tree behind him. “Did Thor give you his Quirk?!”

The two made eye contact, and Deku frowned. 

“Yes.”


	16. Tactical Non-Stealth Spying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, Midoriya begins an internship, and All Might learns Thor is really bad at spying on people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing

Bakugou and Midoriya held awkward eye contact, Izuku wondering if letting Bakugou know how he had obtained Thor’s powers was a mistake. 

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then, Bakugou let loose a series of awkward, sputtering half-words as his mind attempted to process the answer, before finally settling on a loud cry of, “HOW?!” 

“Well...” Midoriya trailed off, before recounting the events of the day he became acquainted with the God of Thunder. Some time later, he finished, “...and then Thor trained me to be a Hero.” 

“Are you...” Bakugou rubbed the bridge of his nose, “DO YOU THINK I WAS BORN YESTERDAY?!”

“Well, obviously not,” Midoriya shrugged. “You were born in April. You're an Aries, and it's still Taurus season.” 

“What?! Stop talking about zoology! Shut up, you nerd!” Bakugou grunted, punching the tree behind him again. “You’re sitting here trying to tell me that Thor’s powers aren’t a Quirk, but some magic godhood BULLSHIT, and that somehow this Avenger from hundreds of years ago is still alive?” 

Deku raised his eyebrows. “Wait, but you just showed me the picture of Thor from the Sports Festival and the historical picture, didn’t you think they were the same picture?” 

“OF COURSE NOT!” Bakugou began pulling his hair in frustration. “IT’S IMPOSSIBLE FOR A MORTAL TO LIVE THAT LONG! Unless your Quirk is Tortoise, like the world’s oldest hero Tortoise Guy. Clearly whoever you met is some sort of relative or successor.” 

“But Thor was a god,” Midoriya argued. “Is a god. And Tortoise Guy is only like, 97.”

“Bullshit, all the leading research just points to him being really powerful and really insane,” Bakugou snorted. 

Now it was Izuku’s turn to rub the bridge of his nose. “Look, Kacchan... I’m telling you the truth. Thor is real. Asgard is real. How else would you explain Mjolnir?” 

This time, Bakugou didn’t have an answer, but looked from Midoriya to the hammer. “...I don’t.” 

“I’m telling you the truth, Kacchan.” Midoriya repeated, shifting his weight from one leg to another. “I got to get home, okay? I’ll uh... see you tomorrow.” 

He half expected some sort of objection as he began to walk away from his childhood friend, but it never came. 

There wasn’t time to dwell on it though; he was Stormbreaker now, and he had to worry about internships.

And he knew who he was going with...  
\---  
The week came and went, and as Monday morning rolled around, Midoriya left his house in his Hero uniform. His heart was in his throat the entire morning as he walked to the train station. _And to think, when I’m licensed, I can just fly anywhere!_

While he grew up in a fairly urban area, he couldn’t help but be nervous about going to Shibuya for work. Not helping were the looks he was getting from passersby as he squeezed his way onto the train. Even for a Hero Costume, the old-school styled Asgardian helmet must have stood out to people. 

As they drew near to the city, the compartment got more and more crowded - he guessed what he had heard about the inner city trains was true, it was getting hard to breathe in that train car. But after what seemed like an eternity, he forced his way off at his platform and emerged onto the lively streets filled with salarymen and people his age in their school uniforms.

“Hey Ren, isn’t that the kid from the Sports Festival?”  
“It’s got to be, look at that hammer!”   
“FOR REAL?!”  
“Shut up, Ryuji.”  
“Oooohhh, I wonder if he’s single!”   
“I dunno, he’s kinda plain looking.” 

His face burned a bright red as he looked at his phone for directions, but then another voice called to him, making the point moot. “Midoriya!” 

He looked up and a wave of relief came over him. A familiar face in a strange location was always a welcome sight. Todoroki ran up to him with a small grin. “Glad you made it on him. My father is kind of an ass about people being late.”

“And everything else, it sounds like,” Midoriya quipped, and then immediately slapped his free hand over his mouth; maybe that was stepping too far?

To his further relief, Todoroki just laughed. “You aren’t wrong. Come on, it’s this way.”

It became quite clear Todoroki was familiar with the streets, effortlessly weaving past beef bowl shops, arcades, and karaoke booths to Endeavor’s agency. “They must keep really busy in this area of town,” Midoriya mused. 

“Definitely,” Todoroki nodded. “If there isn’t a villain to stop, we can assist the police force with investigations and searches. Doing all this and keeping on top of the paperwork is what has kept my father’s win record higher than All Might’s. Which he reminds us of, constantly.” 

Midoriya stifled a snicker, but his heart was in his throat again as they walked through the doors of the agency itself. 

_Maybe I’m worrying too much,_ he tried to assure himself, _internships usually don’t do anything more serious than patrols..._

Those thoughts were dashed as they reported to Endeavor’s office and flame spear was immediately chucked towards Deku’s head. With a yelp, he raised Mjolnir and spun it in from itself, deflecting it into a nearby wall. 

“FATHER, WHAT THE HELL?!” Todoroki yelled. 

“It’s fine,” Endeavor huffed, standing from his desk. “Everything in the office is fireproof.”

“Midoriya isn’t!” 

Izuku himself exhaled and placed his hand over his chest, trying to calm his pounding heart. 

“Well, I just wanted to check the reflexes of the winner of your school’s Sports Festival,” Endeavor sneered. He was using a tone Midoirya had heard a lot growing up; adults always used it when he had told them it was Quirkless. It was the sort of faux-politeness he would be given that was a poor attempt to hide disdain and condescension. 

“Well, come on then, both of you,” Endeavor scoffed, pushing past them to the door. “Everyone knows how well you two fight. Now let’s see if you’re cut out for the Hero paperwork.” 

Todoroki rolled his eyes. As the two trailed behind the Number Two Hero, he whispered to his classmate. “Whenever I disobey father, I’m usually punished with paperwork.”

Deku sighed internally. _I guess it is part of the job..._  
\---  
While the two teens worked tirelessly in one of the taller buildings in the city, another man stood on a roof, a few buildings away, glaring angrily at the location. Probably more off putting than the angry glare, however, was the amount of knives and swords on the man. And those were only the ones visible, at that. 

Stain had built up something of a reputation of a, “Hero Killer,” but the moniker didn’t make sense to him, personally. He was cleansing the Hero scene of Japan; any of his victims were no more Heroes than that foul Shigaraki character he had met with recently. 

At the thought, Stain could hear the familiar sound of a portal opening behind him. _Speak of the devil,_ Stain scowled. 

“I figured you’d be here,” Shigaraki said, in a tone that was trying just a little too hard to be smooth. 

“Yeah, well, I told you as much,” Stain replied. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider our proposition?”

“You’ve got some balls coming here to ask that without your portal guy to protect you from getting cut this time,” Stain said, turning and spitting on the roof to show his disdain for the leader of the League of Villains. 

“We’re just looking to take down a shitty Hero society,” Shigaraki mused, “not so different from you.” 

A knife slid down from Stain’s sleeve, glinting in his left hand. “Come a little closer with that garbage. You want to take out All Might. And if I had my way, Hero’s would be reformed in his image. I’m going to fix this society, and when I’m done, you’re going to be next.” 

Stain didn’t wait for a response before jumping to another roof. Once he was gone, Shigaraki just laughed. 

“Whatever you say, Hero Killer,” he said, turning into a portal that formed behind him. “You’re just playing into our hands anyway.”  
\---  
A few cities away, Thor stood across the street from another building with All Might, reading a sign on the door. 

“So who is Sir Nighteye?” Thor asked. “I understand that you want me to scout one of his employees, but why exactly aren’t you coming too?” 

“He was a former sidekick of mine, and well... things ended kind of awkwardly,” All Might replied, shifting uncomfortably. “And if he sees me, in either form, he’ll know and it will be trouble. You scout young Mirio, I want to scout someone else as a potential successor.” 

Before Thor could object, All Might turned and took off. He sighed inwardly; he was the King of Asgard, surely he had better things to do than stalk a teenager for someone he could barely call an acquaintance. 

_This is what you get for mentoring All Might’s biggest fanboy,_ Thor thought, retreating to a back alley and waiting for Mirio Togata to emerge for patrol. 

He didn’t have to wait long; the blonde haired boy was pretty easy to spot, and at first glance Thor almost mistook him for a young All Might as he dashed down the street. “I’m too old for this,” he grumbled as he left the alley and walked after the teen. 

\---  
After a boring day of paperwork, Midoriya hopped on the train home. The ray of hope for the rest of his week was that he and Todoroki would be going on patrol tomorrow, but it still wasn’t great. 

The screens in the train car played news for the occupants, and a BREAKING NEWS bulletin caught Deku’s attention - showing a man on the screen who looked like a deformed Ninja Turtle. He blanched; that man was easily recognizable as Stain. He watched carefully, reading the subtitles on the screen as the newscaster recalled his recent crimes against the hero Ingenium, and rumors that he was seen in the Shibuya area. 

“Man that’s... really close,” he muttered to himself. “Guess I have a knack for being where the action is.” 

It wasn’t until he left the train that it hit him; Iida was close to, training with Manual. He whipped out his phone and texted Iida to see if he had heard, and to be careful, before walking back to his apartment. It would be awhile before he realized Iida had left him on read.   
\---  
Elsewhere, Thor felt particularly proud of himself. “I should have thought of this earlier,” he chuckled to himself, pulling a ski mask over his face. “What better way to test the mettle of this young man but in glorious combat?” 

Thor emerged from a back alley in his disguise hoodie and the ski mask and walked into the corner store. He knew Mirio was nearby on patrol, so he conjured some lightning in his fingers, before shouting as loudly as he could to the cashier. “THIS IS A ROBBERY! GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR CASH AND OTHER VALUABLES, OR EVERYONE GETS ZAPPED!” 

The cashier screamed and grabbed a shotgun from under the counter, but Thor shot a very small electric pulse that knocked the gun out of his hands. “YOU FOOL! YOU SHALL PAY FOR THAT! PAY FOR THAT IN CONSUMABLE GOODS!” Thor grabbed a snack cake off the shelf next to him and took a bite out of it. “TAKE THAT!” 

To even Thor’s shock, a face popped out of the floor. He turned down to look at the face, a few crumbs falling out of his mouth. It was Mirio.

“Hey there!” Mirio, called cheerfully, “That’s not yours.” 

Mirio dropped into the ground as Thor shot another small electric pulse towards the floor. 

Thor turned around just in time to see Mirio burst from the floor and uppercut his jaw, knocking the snack cake out of his mouth. Thor’s reactions were quick enough that he turned his head with the punch; he didn’t want to break the boy’s hand. 

Wreathing his arm in lightning, he punched at Mirio, and was surprised the boy went intangible quickly enough for his arm to go through the young man. With the opening, Mirio raised his right arm and elbowed Thor in the temple. 

Thor pretended to stumble to the side after the blow. _His instincts are excellent. I’ll try a bit harder._

Thor shot lightning at Mirio, who sank into the ground. Thor turned around as Mirio popped out and shot even more electricity, and Mirio was able to switch gears and sink into the ground again. Wrapping his arm in electricity again, Thor looked around, waiting for Mirio to pop out from the ground again. 

He never did though, instead, bursting out through a shelf, he punched Thor across the jaw before the god could react. _Good speed and good power._ Thor mused, _a fine fighter indeed. A lesser crook would be done by now. Now I just need to get out of here._

Thor waited, already having known Mirio needed to materialize to strike. Once Mirio’s fist had connected with him again, Thor opened his mouth and used a gust of wind to send the teenager crashing backwards through the store. He was impressed as Mirio had the wherewithal to go intangible again to cause minimal property damage. The King of Asgard promptly walked out the door and summoned a bolt of lightning to return to Asgard. 

He wasn’t back on his throne five minutes before his phone rang. Looking at the screen, he grimaced. _I never should have made cell communications with Midgard possible._ “Hello All Might, what can I do for you?”

“YOU FOUGHT HIM?!”   
\---  
Tuesday mornings were, by and far, the worst time of the week as far as Midoriya Izuku was concerned. Waking up Monday morning for class was one thing, but he always felt so much more tired the second day in a row. Today was certainly no different, but at the very least he had patrol to look forward to. 

Despite his distaste for Endeavor, and the looming news he had heard about Stain being in his area, he couldn’t help but be excited. Patrol would be his first taste of actual Hero Work! He muttered the entire way out the door that morning, forgetting to say goodbye to his mother, and kept muttering all the way until he got on the train. 

Midoriya Izuku was not the only person excited for today either. Already in Shibuya, Shigaraki Tomura was practically vibrating with excitement in one of his hideouts. In fact, he kept knocking his hands loose, leaving the floor littered with them. It was pretty gross, if you asked Kurogiri. 

“So, you’re sure Stain will be striking tonight?” Kurogiri asked, opening up a portal so that he could place the spare hands on the far end of the counter. 

“I made sure Native would be in place - and I made sure Stain got tipped off about it,” Shigaraki chuckled. “For as secretive as he is, Stain has his own ways of sniffing out leads...I just had to taint the information pool a little. Are the Nomus ready?” 

Kurogiri nodded, picking up the last hand as discreetly as possible. “The varieties are all prepared. Between them and Stain, our name will be the talk of the town by the end of the night.”   
\---  
“Keep in formation,” Endeavor instructed, curtly, to his son and Midoriya as they began strolling the rooftops around the sector of Shibuya designated to them. “Stay out of sight, and keep an eye out for any flashes of steel. That Stain fellow has been in the news lately...”

“It will probably be pretty boring,” Todoroki whispered to Midoriya, “not many people have the guts to start something this close to my father’s location.”

Almost as if on cue, explosions and screams began to ring out from a few blocks to the west. 

“Or not.” Todoroki shrugged as Midoriya gave him an incredulous look.

“Perfect,” Endeavor sneered, turning to Midoriya. “Now. Watch what the _true_ greatest Hero can do!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thought process for this chapter:
> 
> "How would Thor go about testing Mirio?"
> 
> "...he'd fight him."


	17. Growing Stains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, some good lads fight Stain, and Midoriya realizes he's more Asgardian than he was before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing

“So,” Endeavor began, “What the hell am I looking at?”

Todoroki and Midoriya exchanged glances nervously, and then turned back to the hulking regenerative beast in front of them.

“That’s a Nomu,” Midoriya answered. He’d already been spinning Mjolnir to charge electricity. 

“One of the things that attacked us at the USJ,” Todoroki added.

“So it’s part of The League of Villains?” Endeavor smirked. “This will be a perfect way for me to show up All Might. Get back, interns, you’ll only be in the way.” 

“What?!” Midoriya yelled, incredulously.

“Father, we’ve actually already - and he’s gone.” Todoroki scowled as Endeavor tackled the beast and they went brawling at high speeds down a street. 

Before they could even give chase after the two, a different Nomu, this one with wings, began flying over the buildings around the, screeching like some sort of pterosaur. 

“Guess that one’s ours,” Todoroki smirked, creating an ice slide to chase after him. Not one to be outdone, Midoriya took to the air with Mjolnir and flew after the beast. 

_Have to be careful throwing lightning around a crowded city like this,_ Midoriya thought, charging his power internally and waiting for a spot to pic. His eyes darted around the brightly lit city. _So much metal everywhere, if I’m not careful..._ “WHOA!”

Midoriya stopped in mid air, and Todoroki turned to look up at him. “What’s wrong?” He shouted up to the green-haired boy. 

Midoriya gaped for a moment and blinked, making sure he had seen correctly. 

Down in an alley, in his search for an opening, a flash of steel had caught his gaze. And as he looked back, it was something he had feared may happen, but never actually expected. 

Iida was there, facing off with Stain. And there was... a lot of blood. 

“Todoroki, down there!” Midoriya called, but did not wait for a response before rocketing down to the pavement. 

Below, Stain had already sliced Iida’s hand, and had paralyzed the boy with his Quirk. 

“...If you were a real Hero, you would have saved him.” Stain scowled, nudging his head towards Native, slumped against a wall. “You’re a failure. Just like your pathetic brother.” He readied his sword. “But since you’re a kid, I’ll make it qui -”

“I SAY THEE NAY!”

Stain jumped backwards as a green blur came crashing down. He just barely cleared enough distance as another teenager slammed a hammer into the ground, cracking the pavement. Stain lost his balance, but as he did, he managed to slide a few throwing knives out of his sleeve and throw them at the intruder. 

As the knives flew, the hammer erupted with electricity, lightning crackling down the entire alleyway. The metal knives attracted the electricity, and were flung into the walls helplessly. He was next, electricity washed over him, burning his flesh and setting his nerve endings on fire. 

As Stain collapsed, Midoriya turned to his friend. “Iida, are you alright?!” 

Iida blinked up at his savior, partially convinced that this was some sort of dying dream. “S...Stormbreaker? What are you doing here?” He grimaced. “This was... my moment.” 

“Moment?” Midoriya blinked. “What are you -”

“IZUKU LOOK OUT!” 

Midoriya turned to see a knife approaching his eyes at blindings speeds. They were only knocked out of the way at the last possible moment by a wall of ice that popped up in front of him, separating Midoriya and Iida from the rest of the alleyway.

Todoroki came running from the opening of the alley. “That was close...” 

“I thought I had knocked him out,” Izuku lamented, cringing. “I never should have turned my back on him.” 

“NO, IT’S A PRETTY BAD IDEA!” 

Midoriya and Todoroki gasped as Stain somehow vaulted over the ice wall, katana poised to pounce on Izuku. Midoriya jumped backwards and avoided the attack, but as he landed, Stain threw another knife at Todoroki. The taller boy dodged to the side, but the knife still cut his shoulder. 

Midoriya threw Mjolnir at Stain, but he dashed forward out of the way, leaving the hammer to smash through the ice wall Todoroki had made. In the split second Mjolnir left his hand, a wide swipe of the katana nearly grazed Midoriya’s arm, but he was able to move at the last second before recalling his own weapon. 

“Watch out for his Quirk!” Iida yelled from the ground, “it paralyzes.” 

Todoroki raised his arm for a fire attack, but Stain had already picked up his knife and gave it a lick, freezing Todoroki in place. 

Stain turned to face Midoriya, who spun Mjolnir at his side. “What... what business of this is yours?” 

Midoriya grit his teeth. “What does it look like? Stopping you. That’s my business.” 

“Why?” Stain grinned. “I understand what he’s doing here.” He nodded towards Iida, twitching at his feet. “Another misguided Hero looking for revenge. A shame to the field. You have no reason to be involved.” His face became more grim as he furrowed his brow. “Get out of here. I have no interest in killing children.” 

His response was for Midoriya to shoot a blast of lightning towards him. Not to be fooled by the same trick twice, he planted his katana in the ground as makeshift lightning rod and jumped backwards. 

“YOU EXPECT ME TO LEAVE AND LET YOU KILL PEOPLE?!” Midoriya yelled.He threw Mjolnir again, this time it snapped directly through the katana on it’s way to Stain. “I’m a Hero. I WILL stop you! No one else gets hurt!” 

Stain laughed as he jumped over the hammer, brandishing a katana. “Never thought I’d find a kid who’s ideals would live up to All Might’s. Maybe I’ll let you live!” Stain dashed towards Midoriya. 

Midoriya raised his hand and recalled Mjolnir, the hammer returning and beaning Stain in the back of the head at it’s return, knocking the villain to the ground. Even during his fall, Stain threw a knife that just barely missed Midoriya’s shin. “How can you sit here and defend a system so broken?! A system that rewards people like Endeavor?!” 

_How is he still moving after all this?!_ Midoriya thought, wincing. 

Stain hit the concrete on all fours, and scrambled to get to his feet with another knife drawn. He was stopped though by Iida, who kicked him in the ribs at high speeds, still clutching his shoulder. 

Stain rolled across the alley, but propped himself up on his knees and threw another volley of knives to keep Iida and Midoriya away. Iida managed to dodge to the side, but Midoriya created a wind bust to throw the knives back towards Stain. A few sliced his face and his eye-mask, causing him to laugh as blood began to trickle down his own face. “WHY FIGHT ME?! I’M JUST CLEANING UP THE TRASH PRODUCED BY YOUR HERO SYSTEM?! YOU SHOULD THANK ME!”

Enraged, Iida ran forwards for a kick, but Stain jumped to his feet swung his katana. The blade cut Iida’s side, and in a fluid motion Stain gave the blade another lick. “You’re sloppy, kid.” 

Stain swung for Iida again, but Midoriya dove in front of him, smacking the blade away with Mjolnir. “GET AWAY!” 

Stain, incensed with how this kid kept getting in his way, swung the blade straight down for Midoriya’s helmet, but Midorya swing Mjolnir again, snapping the blade. But that was a distraction as Stain had gripped a knife in his left hand and tried to stab Midoriya in the arm after he swung the hammer. 

Neither of them were expecting the knife to snap against Midoriya’s exposed forearm. Midoriya paused to stare at it, but Stain recovered, swinging his katana again. This, too, met Midoriya’s side and snapped in two. 

His anger returned, and Midoriya snapped. Swinging Mjolnir into an uppercut which broke the Hero Killer’s jaw, he launched Stain into the air, before unleashing an even bigger blast of lightning. Stain screamed in pain and collapsed on the pavement, finally unconscious. 

Letting out a sigh of relief, he scoured the alley until he found an extension cord, and tied Stain up. 

“Are you guys okay?” He called out to Iida and Todoroki. 

“Yeah... I’m starting to be able to move again,” Todoroki sighed, moving rather disjointedly from his spot. “If I had known you were knife-proof, I would have tried attacking Stain instead of blocking his attack.” 

“To be honest, that’s pretty new.” Midoriya admitted. “Sorry...” 

“Hey, we got him,” Todoroki shrugged. “That’s the important thing. Iida, are you okay?” 

Iida slowly stood up, but didn’t turn towards his friends. “Yeah... I’m alright.” 

“What were you doing here, Iida?” Midoriya asked. “Where’s Manual?” 

Iida walked over to Native to check on the Hero’s condition, ignoring the question. “... why did you interfere?” 

Todoroki and Midoriya exchanged looks. “What...?” Todoroki asked. 

“I was here to avenge my brother,” Iida said, harshly. “It was my business.” 

Midoriya scowled. “Iida, it’s a Hero’s job to stick his nose in someone’s business. If I can’t save my friend, what right do I have to call myself one?” 

The remark his Iida, and he paused in his tracks with widened eyes. “I... I guess you’re right.” 

“Let’s save it,” Todoroki interjected, “And get Native and Stain over to the right parties. Now’s not really the time for speeches.” 

Iida nodded silently, and helped Native to his feet. Todoroki and Midoriya carried the unconscious Stain out to the road to see Endeavor and Manual approaching them. 

“There you...” Endeavor began, but stopped, his eyes widening as he saw the Hero Killer restrained by the teenager, “...who is that?!” He asked in disbelief.

“That’s Native,” Todorki replied in monotone. Native gave a small wave. 

“I’m pretty sure he meant Stain, Todoroki.” Midoriya laughed nervously. 

“You...” Endeavor clenched his fists. “You children apprehended Stain?” 

“Is this why you went off on your own?” Manual asked, disappointed. 

The conversation was interrupted by a horrible shriek. The group of Heroes and Students turned to see the flying Nomu, the target Todoroki and Midoriya were originally chasing, dive down and grab Deku in one fell swoop. 

“MIDORIYA!” Iida and Todoroki shouted together. 

When the shock of what had happened wore off on Midoriya, the Nomu was already high above the buildings. He wriggled his hand free and summoned Mjolnir. The second the hammer hit his hands, he summoned a lightning bolt from the heavens that struck the Nomu and sent them both plummeting to the ground. Before impact, Midoriya was just barely able to get himself out of the creature’s grasp and fly out a few feet above the ground, watching as the Nomu crashed into the pavement. 

“So much for keeping property damage to a minimum,” Midoriya muttered guiltily, surveying the hole the Nomu had left in the ground. 

“Midoriya!” 

Izuku turned to see Iida running towards him, leaving Endeavor and the others behind with his superior speed. He waved to Iida, and the taller boy caught up to him in mere moments. 

“That was close,” Iida panted, “We thought we lost you there.” 

Midoriya shook his head. “No, the air is a pretty good place for me to be. Whatever that guy is, he wasn’t strategizing by pulling me into the sky.” 

Endeavor, Todoroki, and Manual caught up to them, and the approaching red and blue lights told everyone the police were going to be here soon. Endeavor and Manual made eye contact. 

“Look,” Endeavor said to the teenagers, “you guys are unlicensed, so just let me do the talking okay?” 

“Why?” Todoroki asked, tone sharpening slightly. 

“Because you three running off to apprehend Stain can get you arrested for vigilantism,” Endeavor spat, “so let me smooth this over.” 

Todoroki huffed angrily, but Iida looked to his feet, guiltily. 

Midoriya looked between the two, feeling somewhere between; he had taken down the Nomu, and had helped Todoroki and Iida apprehend Stain. 

The feeling in the pit of his stomach grew as he watched the police arrive, and Endeavor explained to the detectives how he had taken down both Stain and the Nomu, together. When prompted, Manual would agree to the story, but even he had a look of unease on his face the entire time. 

He turned to see Todoroki trembling with anger. Helplessly, he reached over and grabbed the taller boy’s shoulder. 

Finally, at the end of the statements, the detective approached Iida. “So you got attacked, yeah? That looks like nasty wound. Come on, we’ll get you looked at.”

Iida nodded silently, offering no objections to the story, and followed the detective. Manual went with him. 

Free to leave, Endeavor ushered his interns away from the crowd. Once they were approaching the agency, Endeavor let out a frustrated sigh. “That was close. You two should be ashamed for your recklessness.” 

“Recklessness?!” Midoriya shouted, unable to hold back. 

“Father, if we didn’t intervene those two could have died!” Todoroki objected. 

Endeavor snorted impatiently. His whole demeanor made Midoriya begin to shake angrily as well; he was acting like they were two people taking a long time in a fast food line instead of two people concerned about their friend’s life. 

“Your job,” Endeavor said, pointedly, to his son, “is to become the Number One Hero. Getting yourself arrested for unlicensed heroics means that’s never going to happen. And you,” he turned to Deku, “while you are at my agency this week, you are my responsibility. Anything that threatens my reputation means I make one call to the school, and you get kicked out.”

He turned and walked away, but not before looking over his shoulder and adding, “You two will be on paperwork duty the rest of the week. Go home.” 

As he turned the corner, Midoriya turned to Todoroki, who was literally fuming from a combination of his Quirk. “Man... you have to live with him?”

Todoroki gave a small smirk for Deku’s effort, but it quickly snapped back into a scowl. “I’m sorry you had to see him like this.” 

Midoriya shook his head. “Look, it’s not your fault. Don’t apologize for him. We did the right thing.” 

“Yeah,” Todoroki relented, letting the smirk return to his features. “Yeah, we did. We’re the ones who caught Stain.”

“And saved Iida,” Midoriya added. “Probably pisses your dad off. Speaking of, let’s go check on Iida tomorrow... I’m kind of worried about that stuff he was saying.” 

Todoroki nodded. “Yeah... we should do that.”


	18. Exam Prep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Stain behind bars and a week with Endeavor behind him, Midoriya and class 1-A look to their final exams for the term.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing.

“...so, the blade snapped against your bare skin?” Thor asked, grinning like a madman.

Midoriya nodded, exhausted from a week of doing paperwork and other trivial nonsense for Endeavor, followed by daily visits to Iida with Todoroki. Unfortunately, Iida had irreparable nerve damage in his left hand, though it was still somewhat functional. He was lucky, if anything, that it was his non-dominant hand. 

Still, with everything that was going on, it wasn’t until Saturday evening that Izuku was able to sit down with Thor and his mother for dinner. Not a moment too soon either, because Inko was incredibly curious about the details of his run in with the Hero Killer. 

“Right.” Midoriya nodded tiredly, but helping himself to some more rice. “Twice. And Stain freaked out.”

“H-he’s not the only one,” Inko stuttered, on the verge of tears. Her baby had been seconds away from getting stabbed! By a murderer! 

“This is truly good news, though!” Thor bellowed, reassuringly. “Your transformation into an Asgardian is going well. Your strength and durability can only grow in time. Soon, I’ll be able to shoot a cannon directly into your chest with no ill effects.”

Inko made a noise akin to something a Muppet might make.

“I-I won’t though,” Thor added. He turned and thumped Deku on the shoulder lightly. “For someone who defeated a villain called, ‘the Hero Killer,’ you don’t look so thrilled.” 

“Just what happened with Iida’s hand,” Midoriya sighed, picking at his rice. “If I had been quicker, I might have been able to prevent it. I mean... it sucks about not being able to tell anyone, but I just wish I had been there sooner.” 

“Well, you can’t stop someone from charging foolhardishly into danger. My parents learned that the hard way about me,” Thor said. “Had you not been there, he’d be much worse for wear.” His jovial attitude turned into a slight scowl. “I’m more miffed about this whole business with Ending Vore.” 

“Endeavor,” Midoriya corrected. That misnomer seemed much more...gross than Kachow. 

“Right.” Thor frowned. “Even after the Sakovia Accords passed, some of the greatest of Midgards Hero’s remained vigilantes. Captain America included. His unabashed disregard for your comrade and glory-hogging shall not go unpunished, I assure you.” 

Midoriya began to sweat, nervously. “Please don’t go picking a fight with the Number Two Hero. It wouldn’t look good for my prospects after graduation.” 

“Hmm,” Thor huffed. “I suppose. You’re lucky I’m already on thin ice.” 

Both Midoriya dropped their chopsticks surprised. “Thor, did something happen?” Inko asked, worriedly. 

“Er, said too much,” Thor replied, quickly. “Never you mind. Young Midoriya, you need to focus on finals soon, right? Better hit the books,” he laughed nervously. 

He didn’t want Inko to know he provoked a fight with a teenager; she probably wouldn’t be too keen on it.   
\----

Thor had been right though, they weren’t back in class for more than five minutes before Aizawa told them that they would be shifting focus right onto the end of semester exams. 

What Midoriya had not expected was that the exam would be in two portions: a written one covering both Heroics and Standard Academics (bound to include all the Shakespeare Present Mic could cram in there), and a, “Practical Portion.”

“But sir, what will the practical portion entail?” Iida asked, animatedly. He seemed back to his old self, making all sorts of motions as he asked. “We can’t properly prepare ourselves without some sort of idea!” 

Aizawa blinked, took a drink of coffee, set his mug down, cleared his throat, and answered. “That’s the point. But if you don’t pass, you won’t be able to to the Quirk Training Summer Camp we have planned for classes 1-A and B.” 

The class erupted; suddenly, studying had become the top priority for everyone. By the end of the day, Yaoyorozu had, “adopted,” about seven classmates to help study.  
\----

At lunch and after classes, rumors were flying around the class about what the final exams could be. Some students were convinced they’d have to go one on one with Zero Pointer Robots. Others were convinced they’d have to save robots from burning buildings or disaster scenarios. 

“I’m telling you, they’re going to separate us into squads of three, and give us either a Heaven or an Earth scroll,” Sero insisted to Kirishima after school. “And then we’ll have to get the other scroll from an opposing team, and make it to the center of the Forest of Death within three days.”

“What are you even TALKING about?” Kaminari asked, bewildered.

“BELIEVE IT!” Was Sero’s response. 

A few feet away, Midoriya and Asui laughed as they overheard this. “I think Sero is an otaku, kero.” Asui observed. 

“Probably,” Midoriya replied, “what do you think it will be, Asui?” 

She tapped her finger to her chin, “It’s hard to guess. I don’t think it will be robots though, kero.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Mhmm,” she nodded, “too predictable. And we just had the whole Sports Festival about fighting. I think they’re going to focus on other parts about being a Hero too. Probably the ability to rescue or thinking on your feet or something.” 

Midoriya frowned and looked down at Mjolnir. “You know, growing up, I really idolized All Might.” 

“I think everyone did,” Asui teased him, causing him to laugh and lighten up a bit. 

“Well yeah, okay duh,” he admitted, “but not just because he was so cool. He just... always saved everyone, I guess. I just remember that video of him carrying ten people of a bus to safety. It was so cool. I just hope I can save people like that too. A lot of my Quirk seems more geared towards causing destruction.” 

She flicked him on the side of the arm, “Stop that, kero.”

“Ow,” he said, though more from surprise than hurt - if blades couldn’t do it, neither would that. “What?”

“You got both of us out of trouble at the USJ. You won the Sports Festival, kero.” She ticked off. “You got to intern with the Second Highest Ranked Pro Hero. You really shouldn’t doubt yourself.”

He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Y-yeah. I guess you’re right. I’m sorry.” 

“Good,” Tsuyu ribbited playfully. “You’re like the coolest guy in the class.”

“Is that what everyone is saying?”

It was her turn to go red at the question. “Well, kero, no. I’m just... saying... that.”

The rest of the walk home was pretty quiet, but Izuku couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off his face.   
\----  
The next few weeks were quiet as the Hero Courses began to study for their final exams. Even school clubs were cut short so that the students could focus on studying. Even those with the lowest scores in the class were diligently researching under the tutelage of their vice president, in an effort to make it to the Summer Training Camp at the end of the term. 

Looming even more on their minds was the practical portion. It was announced by Aizawa the week before the test that they would only find out what they were faced with the day of the exam. After the written portion, at that as well. 

The flow of time seemed to be on overdrive as exam day approached, only to slow to a screeching halt once the exam was in front of everyone. 

Midoriya felt pretty confident in his form as he turned it in at the front desk, the third one finished in his class. Aizawa’s eyes flicked up to him. “Go get into your Hero Costume, Stormbreaker. Meet outside Ground Beta.” 

Izuku just gave a small nod and hoped it wasn’t obvious how nervous he was. He walked out of the room and went towards the locker room. As he walked in, Iida had just finished putting on his own costume.

“Hey Iida, you holding up okay?” Izuku asked, jovially. 

Iida gave a small smirk, and flexed his left hand. “A little better every day. But now’s the time to focus! We have finals!”

“Right,” Deku laughed. _Back to his usual self, thankfully._

As Iida left, Midoriya got changed himself. He glanced down at his own arm, looking at the spot where Stain’s blade had snapped against his skin. He couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened to him if his Asgardian transformation hadn’t protected him to that point. 

As he pulled his helmet onto his mess of hair and went to leave, the door swung open to reveal Bakugou had finished his exam as well, Todoroki behind him. Politely, Midoriya stepped backwards to let the blonde through. “Sorry, Kacchan.” Internally, he winced at himself; he didn’t need to apologize for just being in the doorway.

Bakugou said nothing, and walked past Izuku. Todoroki followed, and gave his friend a quizzical look. Midoriya just shrugged in response. 

When he made his way outside, he saw Yaoyorozu and Iida had been joined by a few more girls of class 1-A, and slowly the rest of the class began to filter out. Ashido looked defeated, though Sero looked unusually confident. 

Not long after Aizawa left the school.

And Midnight.

And Cementoss. 

And the Principal.

And slowly, all of the Pro Hero Teacher’s were standing across from class 1-A until All Might walked out as well. 

“Congratulation on finishing the written portion of your first term!” All Might bellowed in his usual, friendly voice. 

“Don’t congratulate them, they might not have passed it,” Aizawa sighed. 

All Might elected to ignore this. “But now comes THE REAL CHALLENGE!” 

The atmosphere among the class turned jittery, though no one spoke. 

“You will be placed strategically in teams of two,” the Principal said, stepping forward. “And you will be placed in a timed fight with...one of us.” 

The class erupted into surprise and questions, but Midoriya stared between the teachers. As Nezu explained the timed combat, and that they needed to either restrain the teacher or escape the combat zone, Midoriya could only stare from teacher to teacher and strategize. 

Immediately, every student began muttering that they hoped they wouldn’t get put against All Might. 

“So, the teams will be as follows,” The Principal advised, pulling out a list from his pocket.

“A team of Uraraka and Aoyama against Thirteen.

A team of Kaminari and Ashido against myself.

A team of Kirishima and Sato against Cementoss. 

A team of Koda and Jiro against Present Mic.

A team of Asui and Tokoyami against Ectoplasm. 

A team of Todoroki and Yaoyorozu against Eraserhead. 

A team of Sero and Mineta against Midnight. 

A team of Hagakure and Shoji against Snipe.

A team of Iida and Ojiro against Power Loader.”

Midoriya’s heart dropped. _This was literally the worst combination they could have left for me._

“Which leaves Midoriya and Bakugou against All Might.” The principal concluded. He turned to Thirteen. “Take your challengers to your grounds, and I shall escort the others to the viewing platform.”

Next to him, Asui gave him a concerned, if sympathetic. look. Deku feigned a confident grin, but as he was led to the viewing platform with the others, he approached the blonde cautiously.

“Hey, Kacchan,” he said, quietly.

Bakugou said nothing. 

“Kacchan, listen.” Midoriya said, a little louder. “We need to talk strategy.” 

“No.” Bakugou replied, abruptly. 

Midoriya paused, and Katsuki walked further away. “...no?” 

“I’m not working with you.” Bakugou replied bluntly. 

As his former friend picked up the pace, Izuku fell back with his friends. 

“Kero, that’s pretty rough.” Asui said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. 

“All Might will be nearly impossible to take down without a good strategy,” Todoroki frowned, folding his arms. “Sorry, Midoriya.”

Once again, Midoriya tried his best to feign a confident grin. But the whole time, he could only wonder...

_How the hell do I get past this?_


	19. Stormbreaker and King Lord Murdersplosion 5000 vs. All Might

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for the finals! What will our good boy and our angry boy do against All Might?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing.

Midoriya leaned against the railing, watching his classmates fare in their final exams. He guessed he wasn’t shocked that his match with Bakugou against All Might would be the last; fate had a way of plucking his nerves like that. 

His mind was locked in a vicious cycle as he watched his classmates pass or fail their exams - Kirishima, Sato, Kaminari, and Ashido were not so lucky in their endeavors. First, he would marvel at the strategies his classmates and teachers were using to counteract each other. Then, he would wonder about what sort of strategy he and Bakugou should use against All Might. Next would come panic, as Bakugou had no intention of actually working with him. Then came the dread of failing because - how the hell does someone stop All Might? Finally, he would try and focus on his classmates to take his mind off of the dread, and the cycle would begin anew. And each iteration was worse than the last. 

He allowed himself a small smile when Asui and Tokoyami completed their challenge against Ectoplasm - while a few of the other classmates were a bit perturbed that she used her stomach to hold the cuffs, Midoriya was more impressed. I mean it was gross, sure, but that was really clever use of her quirk. 

But when he saw Asui and Tokoyami grinning at each other after the victory, he felt something different in the pit of his stomach. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he didn’t quite like it. 

Midoriya shrugged it off. Jealousy wasn’t very becoming of him, and he certainly didn’t have time for it. 

He still felt a bit of relief when he saw Asui return to the viewing platform without Tokoyami, and scolded himself internally for it. He didn’t want to be like that, and Tokoyami seemed like a cool guy.

“Good work, you guys did great,” he said, giving her a small smile. 

“Thanks, kero,” she replied, smiling back. “... you didn’t see me use my stomach pouch, did you?”

“We uh... we all did,” he answered, rubbing the back of his neck. “B-but it was still really clever!” 

She turned a bit red, but turned to watch the next exam with the smile still on her face. Midoriya couldn’t help but notice how close her hand was to his on the railing of the platform. 

He shook the thought from his head and tried to focus on the matches... and promptly reentered his cycle of dread. 

He watched the last match before his, happy to see Todoroki and Yaoyorozu triumph over Aizawa with clever usage of Momo’s creations. 

He gulped as Recovery Girl told him to go get ready for his next exam, and he left the viewing platform. 

Mjolnir in hand, he weighed his options. Well, one option. He had to run, right? That seemed like it was his only choice. Would Bakugou be willing to coordinate an escape tactic?

He was lead by Aizawa to their training zone, what looked to be an abandoned urban city area. As he walked next to Bakugou, he asked, “hey, what do you think -”

“Shut up.” 

Midoriya frowned at the response. He could see Aizawa look back at the two of them, slightly concerned himself. 

He kept his mouth shut as he and Bakugou were left in the middle of a city street and waited for the signal to start. Resigned to whatever Bakugou was planning, he began spinning Mjolnir at his side to focus his electricity. 

An alarm blared, and Midoriya turned towards the exit, flying parallel to the ground as fast as he could. To his shock, Bakugou used his explosions to follow him.

_Okay... we’re going pretty quickly!_ He thought, _if we keep this up we can -_

Midoriya’s thought was interrupted as a meteor of some sort hit the pavement in front of Bakugou and Midoriya, sending shockwaves through the city and both boys flying into nearby buildings. Midoriya himself went sailing through a display window, and was thankful - after processing all his pain, of course - that his skin had toughened enough not to get lacerated.

“That... suuuuuuuuuuuuuucked,” he groaned, picking himself up from the shelving units he had crashed into. He surveilled the scene, knowing they were supposed to be aware of causing collateral damage, but the teacher’s had no such drawback. And who else could cause as much collateral damage as All Might? 

He surveyed the scene out of the broken window; neither All Might or Bakugou were in sight, but he was soon answered to the sound of explosions a few blocks away. Jumping out of the window, he summoned Mjolnir and took off flying towards the explosions. 

_I could probably make a break for it,_ he thought, _but I know it didn’t fare well for Sero that Mineta did all the work._ He furrowed his brow. _We’re supposed to be a team. Kacchan’s getting my help whether he likes it or not._

He went further above the buildings to get a better view of his surroundings, and saw Bakugou fighting All Might an intersection a few blocks away. Although, “fighting,” was probably a little generous. As Bakugou unleashed an explosion at All Might’s chest, the Symbol of Peace reached through the fire and backhanded Katsuki into a nearby wall. Still, the burn marks and clothing damage on All Might’s arms showed that Bakugou was at least getting some licks in. 

Midoriya tried to plan out an attack when Bakugou rocketed towards All Might again. This time, the Number One Hero used one hand to grab Bakugou’s entire face and slam him to the ground. 

With no time to strategize, Midoriya landed to All Might’s left and threw Mjolnir. It hit the Hero in the side of the head, knocking him off Bakugou.

If it had been anyone else, they’d have been knocked out or given a concussion, but All Might merely staggered a few feet away. Quickly, Midoriya recalled his weapon and unleashed a massive blast of Lightning that sent All Might flying down an alleyway - a direction Midoriya picked to limit any more property damage. 

Before All Might could recover, Midoriya began to fly, grabbing Bakugou’s hand and heading towards the exit. But as soon as Bakugou realized what was happening, he set off an explosion, burning Midoriya’s left hand and sending the two skidding across the ground only a block away from where they had originally been. 

“What are you doing?!” Midoriya shouted as he scrambled to his feet. “We can escape!” 

“I’m not escaping!” Bakugou seethed as he climbed to a vertical base himself. “We won’t be able to get away from All Might, he’s too quick. Besides,” he glared daggers into Midoriya as he added, “I’d rather lose than help you escape anyway.” 

The words were like a slap in the face to Midoriya as his eyes widened. 

Bakugou, for as long as Midoriya could remember, was obsessed with winning. He had to have the best All Might merchandise, always get the best test scores, always finish a race the fastest, always had to finish lunch before any of the other kids. Bakugou, who had proclaimed he would always be the best, no matter in what way, and never lose since before they even entered school...

Would rather lose? Than cooperate with Midoriya?

He was so caught off guard with the proclamation, he failed to notice All Might approaching him from above until it was too late; he got punched in the face with a Detroit Smash and was sent sailing blocks away, hitting the pavement and coughing blood from impact, Mjolnir flying out of his hands as he bounced along the ground. 

Midoriya had never been excessively prideful like his childhood friend, but something inside him snapped as he opened his eyes to the blue sky above him and the sound of the five minute warning alarm. 

He had worked so hard to get to UA. Broken himself to master the power of Mjolnir, and pushed himself to win the Sports Festival. He’d fought dragons, skeletons, legitimate villains, and was heir to Asgard per Thor’s decree. 

He refused to fail this final due to the stubbornness of Bakugou.

But further, he didn’t want to lose to All Might. 

Something had been itching in himself ever since he learned from Thor that All Might had rejected the powers of the God of Thunder. While All Might was still his Hero, Midoriya had a secret yearning.

He wanted to prove All Might wrong. 

His teeth grit, his eyes began to glow blue as he raised his hand from the ground Mjolnir snapped to it, and he could feel his wounds begin to heal. 

The blue skies above began to cloud up with dark grey clouds. 

He stood up and took to the air, flying back towards where Bakugou and All Might were. While he had recovered, All Might had hit the blonde teen with another Face Palm of Doom, though Bakugou was still trying to explode the hero’s face from his position on the ground. Ready to finish the fight, All Might lifted Bakugou by the collar. 

But before All Might could hit Bakugou with a Detroit Smash, Midoriya threw Mjolnir...

...into Bakugou’s chest. The hammer knocked Bakugou into the wall of a building and pinned him there. 

All Might turned to look at Midoriya, just in time to see Midoriya punch the ground with a cry of, “I SAY THEE NAY!”. As he did, a bolt of lightning shot down from the heavens and hit the Symbol of Peace directly in the midsection. All Might was sent flying from the intersection, skidding down the road. 

Midoriya kept a palm extended, but instead of recalling Mjolnir, he kept in place to pin Kacchan against the wall. As Bakugou struggled against the hammer, he looked up and made eye contact with Izuku. 

“YOU SHITTY DEKU, PUT ME D-”

“You’re right, Kacchan.”

Bakugou’s words were cut off in his throat. That was not the answer he was expecting, nor for Izuku to answer in such a confident tone. “Wha...?”

“We can’t escape him.” Midoriya agreed. A wry smile spread across his lips. “We’re going to capture him. Don’t you want a win over the Number One Hero?”   
\-----  
All Might coughed as he stood up, wincing at the burn on his stomach. “The kid’s clever...” All Might groaned, “hit me right in my injury.” 

Despite the pain from lightning and explosions he had suffered, All Might grinned rather proudly, but this still wasn’t why he had paired up Bakugou and Midoriya.

Their raw power was impressive alone, but they both needed work on things. Bakugou needed to learn teamwork, and Midoriya needed to learn not to hold back with his powers so much. And while Midoriya was certainly making progress on his side, neither of them were working together. “Looks like neither is passing.”

He made an impressive jump to where had been, and was surprised to see Bakugou still pinned against the wall. _Looks like they still haven’t learned._

“Looks like it’s just you and me, young Bakugou,” he said, trying to sound like a menacing villain as he approached the teen. 

All Might was shocked though as Bakugou looked up at him with a wild grin. Abruptly, Mjolnir zoomed from Bakugou’s chest and struck All Might directly in the face. 

Staggered, All Might left himself open as Katsuki dived forward, and placed a hand on each of All Might’s knees before letting loose giant explosions from each hand.

The force of the blasts threw All Might’s legs backwards and before he could even hit the ground, Mjolnir hit the small of his spine, pinning him against the pavement. Unable to reach the hammer to pull it off of him, he was trapped.

Trapped long enough for Bakugou to pull the handcuffs Midoriya had given him out of his gauntlets and slap them on All Might’s wrists. 

With thirty seconds to spare, Midoriya and Bakugou had apprehended All Might, the buzzer going off for their victory. 

“WE DID IT!” Midoriya cried, recalling Mjolnir to his hand as he ran forward from the alley. 

Bakugou cackled viciously from the victory, and before either two boys realized what they were doing, they high-fived each other.

With the action done, Bakugou and Midoriya gave each other wide-eyed expressions of surprise.

“... tch, whatever,” Bakugou scoffed, turning away and heading for the locker room.

With Kacchan’s back turned, Midoriya chuckled to himself lightly. Maybe, maybe the distance between them wasn’t as great as it used to be after the Sports Festival. He turned back to All Might, who was getting back to his feet. “Are you okay, All Might?” 

All Might beamed as he stood up, partially from pride and partially just from not wanting to reveal how much that battle had taken out of him. “OF COURSE, YOUNG MIDORIYA!” But as he noted that he was beginning to let off steam, he added in a hushed tone, “but let us go back inside, I’m sure your classmates are waiting!”   
\-----  
All Might certainly hadn’t been wrong either; the second he returned to his classmates, he was merely tackled by his group of friends.

“Kero, that was amazing Midoriya~!” 

Deku turned a deep scarlet as Asui hopped up to him. “Th-thanks Tsuyu!” 

“To have been able to overcome our teacher in such a manner was incredible!” Iida cried, hands and arms flailing all over. “I was not expecting such a showing.” 

“You were like - BZAP - but then All Might was like - COME ON AND SLAM - and then Bakugou was like - nah - but you were like - NAY!” Uraraka gushed, resembling someone who had just inhaled seven cups of coffee in her eagerness.

“Good job,” Todoroki added, calmly. 

Deku laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Th-thanks guys. You were all really great too!” 

With the results not being posted for a few days, Aizawa was more than happy to dismiss the classes for the rest of the day, happy it was Saturday and that he could finally get some sleep. 

As the group of friends began to walk home, Asui tugged his sleeve. “Hey, Midoriya?”

He turned and looked at her, a bit confused. “What’s up?”

They made eye contact for a bit longer than normal, and both looked away. “I have to run some errands around town tomorrow,” she replied, hurriedly. “Do you... want to come with me?” 

His face burned in a rush of emotions. “Y-yeah s-s-sure. W-what time?”

“Probably around eleven,” she croaked, quietly. “Want to meet up where we usually meet on our walks to school?”

He nodded, and hoped no one else was noticing how goofy the look on his face was.  
\-----  
“I don’t know what pleases me more,” Thor beamed as the two looked over the land of Asgard from the balcony. “The fact that you stuck it to All Might, or that you got Kachow to coexist with you long enough to pull it off.” 

Midoriya laughed, feeling relief wash over him. “To be honest, I feel the same. It was nice. For a second I thought we could even be friends again.” 

“Loki and I were able to reunite over a common foe as well, many years ago,” Thor agreed. “Though our history has always been filled with ups and downs. As many times as we’ve worked together, he’s tried to be my undoing.”

Thor looked over to see the alarmed expression Izuku was giving him and added, “I don’t think Kachow would try to kill you though.” 

“I don’t think so either,” Deku admitted. “I’m just glad that after next week we get our summer break, and the camp.”

Thor laughed heartily. “Oh? And what about your date tomorrow?”

Deku turned red and went to cover his face with his arms. “I-it’s not a date, I’m just keeping her c-company around town!” 

“Do you want me to lend you some gold to take her for a nice meal?” 

“Maybe? W-WAIT, NO THOR DON’T!”

Thor’s laughter echoed through the halls of Asgard.  
\-----  
The next day, Midoriya was up earlier than his usual Sunday morning routine, though he chalked it up to nerves. 

He scoured his clothes until he found one of the few t-shirts he had that wasn’t an All Might shirt. It was his t-shirt that read, “t-shirt,” on it. “This will do,” he muttered to himself. 

As he threw the shirt on and walked out the door, (dodging questions from his mother all the while), he excitedly made his way to the corner with Mjolnir in hand.

He didn’t realize a woman in disguise following him a few house lengths away. 

Toga Himiko reviewed the photo Shigaraki had given her, and made sure she had plenty of blood to keep of the facade of the office worker she was appearing as. “So that’s the kid I’m tailing?” 

She looked up at Midoriya’s back. She recognized him as the winner of UA’s Sports Festival, but according to Shigaraki he had been a pain in the side of the League before then as well. And if rumor had it, HE was the reason Stain - HER STAIN, HER PRECIOUS, PERFECT, BLOODY STAIN - was in jail. 

“What a boring assignment,” she sighed, “Oh well. Let’s see what you can teach me, Midoriya Izuku.”


	20. Three's Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dates are always such a drag when someone is eavesdropping on you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing

Himiko Toga did not like working for the League of Villains. At least, not yet. She was willing to give it more time, but she was hoping things would pick up soon to her preferred pace. 

It’s just that her preferred pace was falling in love and stabbing people. Sometimes at the same time!

Part of her dislike of the job was that they always wanted to use her for all the reconnaissance and stealth. And it made sense, she couldn’t deny. She knew her Quirk made it perfect for her to blend in to any crowd and be the fly on any wall. Who would look twice at the tired Salaryman, or a homely mother on the way back from the store? 

She swirled her hot chocolate in a bored manner - she would never drink yucky, bitter coffee. The problem being, she didn’t WANT to use her Quirk this way. Her Quirk was SPECIAL - she wanted to use it to become someone... someone special. 

Especially if that someone was Stain. She momentarily lapsed into a daydream of the way he would chop up and bloody his victims. So much delicious blood... She squirmed delightedly, almost able to taste the coppery feeling on her tongue. 

She was snapped from her daydream as the entrance bell of the small cafe rang, and she saw her targets were leaving. Toga scowled and stood up to follow them.   
\-----  
Midoriya’s nerves had subsided somewhat since they first met up, which was good, because he found it much easier to have a good time with Asui when he wasn’t constantly worrying. Although, the voice in the back of his head was still constantly wondering whether or not this was a date. 

They weren’t doing any date like activities, though, he firmly reminded himself. They dropped off some some dry-cleaning, took some bill payments to some businesses, returned a few books Tsuyu’s mother had borrowed from the library. These were squarely just busy chores that apparently the Asui parents just did not have time for. 

“What do your parents do anyway?” Midoriya asked, curiously. 

Asui looked somewhat embarrassed by the question. “They’re actually... defense attorneys.” 

“Oh wow,” Midoriya whistled. “That’s a rough field. Providing a case for criminals and villains has never been trickier since Quirks came to be.” 

“Tell me about it,” Asui deadpanned. “There are never enough to go around either so they’re always busy.”

He paused as they hit another crosswalk, mulling the wording to his next question over. “Is it... awkward that you’re going to school for Heroics while they work in criminal defense?”

Asui gave a small smile. “You’d think it is, but no. They’re really proud, and make sure to let me know. Embarrassingly so.” The light at the crosswalk changed, and she began to walk forward. “They like to make jokes that I’ll make sure they’re never out of work, because I’ll be so good at being a Hero.”

“That’s really sweet though,” Midoriya laughed. “My mom’s pretty embarrassing too though.” 

“They usually are, kero,” Tsuyu croaked. “Is it just you and her?”

“Yeah...” Midoriya trailed off. “My dad used to work overseas, but...” 

He rubbed the back of his neck as he searched for the right words. 

He hated talking about this.

“We got the notification that there was an accident,” he finished as they passed a few more stores.

“I’m sorry, kero,” Tsuyu said, looking down. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“N-no it’s okay,” He quickly assured her, waving his hands in front of him. “You’re one of the first friends I’ve made at U.A., I don’t mind getting to know each other.” He scratched his nose. "I was really little, and it wasn't long after the doctor's..."

He paused, remembering that he hadn't explained to anyone about being Quirkless. "Well, they thought I was Quirkless. I don't have a lot of memories of him. But I remember I got his hair."

"It's good hair, kero," Asui beamed, "it's fluffy and looks so soft."

Without thinking, she reached up and ran a hand through his hair. The two froze, made awkward eye contact, and looked away as a passerby yelled, "GET A ROOM!"

"Well, you like coffee?" Tsuyu asked. "I brought up the awkward parent stuff, so it's my treat."  
\---

Toga was able to find them easily as they left the cafe, scowling at how easily they had slipped away from her. Didn't they know it was rude to leave during one of her Stain daydreams?

Whatever tasks they needed to get done must have been finished, because the two had taken a detour through a park.

_That's no good,_ she huffed. _I'll stand out as this middle aged businessman if I'm in a park too long._

Still, improvising was something she had learned when she had to repress her...urges as a child. She found a street vendor, purchased some popcorn and decided to pretend she was feeding some ducks. This lined up perfectly, as Midoriya and this Asui girl seemed to be stopping at a bench alongside a pond.  
\-----

“I haven’t been to this park in a really long time,” Midoriya admitted with a sigh. “I think I was maybe five or six...”

“Yeah?” Asui said, pressing her finger to her chin. “I usually take my siblings here a few times a week. Tire them out, kero. Did you just get sick of playing here?”

“N-not quite,” Deku laughed. “See, back when Kacchan first got his Quirk, he got something of an ego.”

“Shocking,” Tsuyu deadpanned with an interruption. The two of them erupted into a snort of giggles.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “So he and his friends would pick on me for being the Quirkless one. I still hung around and followed them though. I guess... I don’t know, he was the strongest person I knew. He was always tough and had the best Quirk. I guess I looked up to him. Anyway, one day we all were at this park, right? And we’re playing on that bridge -” 

He pointed out the bridge across the way from the two of them, where a salaryman was feeding ducks some popcorn.

“-and suddenly - SPLASH - Kacchan just falls off the whole thing into the stream.” Midoriya explained. “I rushed down to help him out of the water, but...”

“But...?” She echoed after he paused.

“He... he must have thought I was making fun of him or something,” Izuku reasoned, folding his arms across his chest. “He got really violent after that. It went from teasing to bullying, and I just never wanted to come back. I had forgotten about this place until you turned down here, to be honest.”

“Well,” Asui beamed, “this visit will clearly be better than last time.”

Midoriya laughed in agreement. "Yeah, definitely. Thanks, Asu - I mean, Tsuyu."

He was so shy, Midoriya Izuku. Asui had gotten used to it. The flustered face, the stuttering, even the mumbling. But his laugh always caught her off guard. It was when his defenses were finally lowered and she heard how free and happy his voice could be. She could listen to it for hours.  
\-----  
Toga repressed the urge to giggle as she adjusted her hearing aid, practically squirming. The feelings those two were expressing were adorable.

It made her want to...

**Become one of them.**

To feel it her-

BZZZT!

As if on cue to kill her bloodlust, a text came through from Shigaraki, causing her to groan to herself in frustration. 

“Anything useful?” He had asked. 

She left him on read, and looked up, adjusting her hearing aid with a sigh.

“What a buzzkill,” she murmured.   
\-----  
“We should probably get going, kero,” Tsuyu said, voice a bit more forlorn than usual. “I promised my mom I’d make lunch for my brother and sister, and it's getting kinda late.” 

It was hard for Midoriya to keep the disappointment from his voice as well. “Ah, okay. I should probably get a jump on packing for the Summer Camp.”

“Yeah, I think it’s a sure thing you guys passed,” she teased him. “Speaking of that stuff though, can I ask you a question about your Hero name?” 

“Sure.” 

“Well, you talked about Thor a lot, kero,” she replied. “And your powers are a lot like his. You’re related, right?”

Midoriya tensed up. It was the same thing Bakugou, and Todoroki thought. And honestly, he figured maybe it was a good time to stop keeping it a secret. 

And... he trusted Asui. Moreso than Bakugou and Todoroki, anyways. “Not like... family related. What would you say if I told you that Thor was still alive?” 

“I’d probably think you were lying,” she ribbited, “he hasn’t been seen in centuries, and not a lot of people actually believe he was some kind of god.” 

“I don’t really blame you,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as they left the park. It didn’t seem like anyone was paying them any mind, so he continued. “But, about a year before school started, I was still without a Quirk. And I was really upset about some things, and took off running. I ended up in this weird... wooded area that I’ve never found in the city since then. And Mjolnir was there.”

“Just laying around, kero?”

He nodded. “Yup. And I just had this uncontrollable urge just to pick it up. So I did, and well... I got transported to Asgard. By wielding Mjolnir, Thor made me his successor, and I’ve been the way you’ve known me ever since.” 

The two hit a crosswalk and had to wait, and silence fell between the two. As it lingered, Midoriya became more uncomfortable, remembering the exchange he had with Bakugou about the same issue. 

As they finally crossed, Midoriya shifted, “Um... I-I know it probably sounds crazy...” 

“It does, kero,” Tsuyu ribbited. “I mean, of course it does. But... I trust you. I don’t think you would just lie to me about that.” She gave him a smile. “You don’t seem like the gloryhog type.” 

Izuku went red, “Th-thanks Tsuyu. Maybe I’ll see if you could meet him at some point. Though he’s anything but godly sometimes...”

“Wait, is he that blonde guy who hugged you after the Sports Festival?” She laughed. “You have to be kidding me! He can do lightning things?” 

Deku laughed too. “Y-yeah, if I hadn’t seen him do it, I don’t know if I’d have believed it either.”

The two walked off towards Asui’s home, Tsuyu asking more questions about Thor that Deku was happy to oblige her with.   
\-----

Unfortunately, this information was also just why Shigaraki had sent Toga to spy anyway. As he sat in his hideout, his phone began to vibrate furiously with messages from his spying operative. 

Shigaraki Tomura had his doubts about Toga. Kurogiri did as well, which he was sure to voice to Shigaraki, but they decided to give her a chance. Her motives and drive were... out there compared to his, but Shigaraki didn’t doubt her abilities. It was about her one saving grace, he had figured. 

As he read the information Toga was feeding him, he grinned wildly. She was already paying off. 

“Kurogiri,” he sneered. “I think we know which character we’re unlocking next.”

“Please stop speaking in video game references, young sir.” 

\-----  
As the two classmates made it to Asui’s block, Midoriya marveled at the size of her house. Suddenly, the apartment he shared with his mother felt somewhat inadequate. _It’s almost as big as Kacchan’s house..._

“Thanks for coming with me on all this,” Asui beamed. “I had a lot of fun.” 

“M-me too,” Midoriya replied, returning her smile.

She paused briefly, and shuffled her feet a bit. It looked particularly awkward on her, considering she was usually so collected on things. “I’m uh... kero, I’m going to hug you now.”

“Wha-?”

He didn’t finish the word before Tsuyu quickly stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his waist. His cheeks turned a deep red, and he hugged her back after a moment. 

“You smell nice, kero.”

“Th-th-thanks.” He stuttered out. It was about all he could manage; it felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest.

She broke away from him and began walking towards the house. “See you tomorrow, Midoriya!” 

As she went inside, Midoriya began walking towards his own building. He made sure he was out of sight before fist-pumping triumphantly. If only he’d been aware of who else was having a good day because of the things he had told Asui...  
\-----  
The next day, the students of class 1-A piled into class, ready for this final week of the term to wrap up. After that, they would finally be able to go to their summer camp! 

Provided they passed...

Which according to Aizawa, MOST of the class did, and he wordlessly posted the results. A moment later, a moan of despair came from Ashido, Kaminari, Kirishima, Sato, and Sero. 

“OH COME ON, HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO BEAT THE PRINCIPAL WITH HIM AS MY PARTNER,” Mina wailed. 

Kaminari shrugged. “Yeah, she’s not wrong. I'm pretty dumb.” 

Sero slammed his head on his desk. “Damn. I knew I couldn’t be the Hokage with Mineta doing all the work.”

“Bruh!” Kirishima grunted.

“BRUH!” Satou replied in staunch agreement.

Aizawa chuckled. “That’s the reaction I was going for. Relax. Everyone is going on the camp.” 

There was a pause over the class as this information washed over them. 

Then...

“WAIT, YOU LIED TO US?!” Mina cried. 

Aizawa flashed his creepiest grin. If there was one thing he loved as a homeroom teacher, it was scaring the crap out of his students. “Yes. It was a logical ruse.”

“I see!” Iida said, glasses flashing as everyone turned to look at him. “By putting such high stakes on our finals, you assured that we would all give it our absolute best to achieve the highest possible marks.” 

“Yeah,” Aizawa agreed, taking a loud slurp of coffee, “that. However...” his smile dropped, revealing an even scarier face. “Those who failed WILL have to take nightly remedial courses to save their grades.”

The five affected students groaned loudly. 

“What a drag...” Sero sighed. 

Midoriya laughed as Aizawa tried to round attention back up for Present Mic, who was assigning Othello to them all for summer reading. But even he had to admit... he was ready for the break from school that the summer camp would bring.


	21. Summer Camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children are off to Summer Camp! What adventure awaits?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing.

Midoriya Izuku had never actually gone to Summer Camp as a kid. He had been too afraid to be away from his home and mother as a Quirkless boy, for fear that the teasing and bullying he had gotten from Bakugou could be worse from strangers in the woods. 

So as he sat on the bus in his, “t-shirt,” shirt with his classmates, he felt nearly as giddy as Ashido and Hagakure. 

Aoyama, who was sitting next to him, didn’t seem nearly as thrilled. “Bleh... I don’t know what the big deal is about the outdoors.”

Midoriya gave him a sympathetic grin. “Come on, Aoyama. We’ll be training our Quirks and learning other applications for them. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah!” Uraraka piped in from behind them, making the two jump, “roughing it is great! Sleeping under the stars and all that? I love it! We used to do it all the time when I was a kid.” 

“So we can get eaten alive by bugs, no?” Aoyama grunted. 

“I’m excited too,” Todoroki said, from the seat in front where he and Iida had been listening. “Back in the day, the only time father ever took me out to the woods was to practice setting trees on fire and then putting them out with my ice.” 

“That... sounds pretty dangerous, kero.” Asui replied, concerned.

“Only if I was bad at it,” Todoroki shrugged, flatly. 

The conversation died down after that, as his friends became a bit uncomfortable with that. But Midoriya still looked out the window and marvelled at the lush forest, the greenery a welcome and new sight for him. The towering trees and mountains under an expansive blue horizon was a foreign sight for the young Hero, who had long since been a city-dweller since his youth. It was almost as awe-inspiring as his first trip to Asgard, and he couldn’t help but feel humbled that such a change in scenery was so close to home all along. 

“HOW MANY BORING ASS TREES DO WE HAVE TO DRIVE BY BEFORE WE GET THERE?!” Bakugou screamed from the back of the bus. 

Midoriya reasoned Kacchan wasn’t as big of a fan of nature as he was. 

It wasn’t much longer after that the bus pulled into an overhang of sorts along the side of a mountain. Beyond the trees, a clearing could be seen in the distance, but it wasn’t exactly close. Still, Aizawa stood up, and advised the class to get off the bus, and the students of class 1-A obliged nonetheless. 

To their surprise, class 1-B had already arrived, and Vlad King wasted no time gloating to Aizawa. “Looks like class 1-A took their sweet time.” 

“There was traffic,” Aizawa sighed, tiredly. 

“Yes, well, celebrity status doesn’t mean you get to show up fashionably late,” Vlad King jabbed, though his tone was at least more akin to something a coworker would give to another passive aggressively. Behind him, Monoma crossed his arms and sneered, while the rest of class 1-B just rolled their eyes and shook their heads. 

“Are...” Aizawa glanced around, “they even here yet?”

“Well, no.”

“Then what does it matter?” Aizawa yawned. “We’re all on time if our hosts aren’t here.”

Kendo perked up from the group of class 1-B students, pushing her way forward. The bags under her eyes and the slouch of her shoulders made it clear she was particularly exhausted from keeping Monoma in line during the bus ride over. “Hosts? Who will be hosting us?” 

“You’ll see,” Vlad King grunted back with a smirk. “You kids are in for quite a week.” 

It wasn’t much longer before a vehicle pulled up alongside the buses, and the students had a collective freakout at the figures who stepped out: Mandalay, Pixie-bob, Ragdoll, and Tiger, the Wild Wild Pussycats. Midoriya immediately pulled out his notebook and flipped to the last page he had written about them. He had to steady his writing hand as he was already trembling with excitement.

Both classes erupted into ecstatic questions and comments about how long they had been fans of the four - much to the irritation of Pixie-bob, who insisted she was still young while making a few leering looks at the class 1-A boys - but their teachers were quick to quell the cacophony. 

“I’m sure you’re all very excited,” Mandalay assured them when the noise had stopped, “and we are too!”

“Training the next generation of heroes!” Ragdoll added excitedly.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy!” Tiger boomed. “Just getting lunch is going to be a challenge here.”

“Thaaaaaaat’s right,” Pixie-bob purred mischievously, giggling into her over-sized paw glove. “That clearing waaaaaay over there is the camp. And if you want to get some grub, you have to meowsy - er, mosey your way through the Forest.”

“Forest of Death?!” Sero exclaimed, excitedly, before pulling Midoriya’s sleeve. “FOREST OF DEATH?! FOREST OF DEATH!”

“Well... Forest of Beasts.There’s a lot of danger in these woods.” Tiger confirmed with a smirk. “Better get through there before it gets dark.”

The students all paused, looking at the foot path that lead down to the woods. Were they just supposed to - 

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!” Ragdoll screamed with girlish delight. “GO!” 

The students all began to scramble. Bakugou and Todoroki forewent the path, opting instead to use explosions and ice slides to make it down the side of the mountain, respectively. 

Midoriya spun Mjolnir over his head and took off flying over the trees. He figured this would be no problem for him, and if he could make it to the clearing first he could possibly help set up signals for the rest of the first years to follow. 

It was a good plan, but it really didn’t account for the random tentacles made of what looked like rock and mud that began shooting up from the forest and trying to grab him. “WHAT?!” He shrieked, zig-zagging through the air to try and avoid them.   
\-----  
From the overlook, Pixie-bob poked her tongue out of the corner of her mouth to concentrate. “I always hate getting these flying ones...so hard to nab with my Earth Flow.” 

“Come on Eraserhead, cut off his flying for just a minute!” Ragdoll added, elbowing Aizawa in the side. “I love watching these kids squirm when we get a chance to train them. Really toughens ‘em up.”

Aizawa frowned. “That’s just it... I’m trying. My Quirk isn’t working on him.” 

The Pussycats, minus Pixie-bob who was still giving her best effort to get Midoriya grounded, looked at him in surprise. 

_My Quirk worked on him at the beginning of the year, so why now...?_ Aizawa wondered.   
\-----

Stormbreaker himself was having a rough time, pausing in the air to smack a tentacle back into mud and dirt. He darted towards the clearing, but a wall of earth had sprung up in front of him. 

In the second he stopped to evaluate where to go, another tentacle grabbed his leg, and he was pulled down towards the earth. Without a second to think the tentacle swung and smashed him into the side of a tree. The tree snapped from the impact and Midorya went tumbling towards the ground, dropping Mjolnir in the process. 

As he vaulted towards the ground, Midoriya heard someone yell his name and dive for him. He was tackled out of the air, slowing his fall, and in a thud, he went rolling across the ground with someone else holding on to him. As he finally rolled on to his back, he groaned and opened his eyes in pain, and saw Asui had grabbed him, and was still wrapping both arms. “AH! Asui, are you okay?!” 

She groaned, a low, croak-like noise, and sat up on him. “Keroooo... I told you to call me Tsuyu.” 

“AH! S-s-sorry,” he winced. “Y-you’ve gotten really good at saving m-me.”

Tsuyu gave him a small smile. “Well, someone has to look out for y-”

The two paused, their faces going very red. As she sat up on him, a part of Midoriya became rather excited, and it appeared both of them were feeling that through his gym shorts. Asui looked down at him, her expression unreadable, but she gave a small quiver. 

Midoriya’s throat ran dry, unsure of how to get out of this awkward situation. However, whether lucky or unlucky, a Kraken made of mud and stone erupted from the ground, interrupting the moment of awkward teen lust and hormones. It roared, and Asui sprang to the side of a tree defensively. 

Midoriya raised his hand as a tentacle came swinging for him. Mjolnir reached him and he flew off from the ground before he was struck. 

Another tentacle came swinging towards Tsuyu and Midoriya threw his hammer, smashing through the construct. With her path clear, Tsuyu sprung off the tree, and rammed into the head of the Kraken with a dropkick. It collapsed, leaving the path to the clearing free of obstructions for the time being. 

“Thanks, Midoriya,” she ribbitted, hopping over to where he had landed. 

“Thank you, too,” he smiled, “for saving me earlier.”

Their eyes met, and some of the awkward tension from before returned. They quickly averted gazes, and Midoriya added. “L-let’s head to the camp together. I don’t think they’re going to let me fly any further.” 

Tsuyu agreed, quickly, and the two began down the path as fast as they could.   
\-----  
The two reached the camp not long after Bakugou, Todoroki, Iida, Uraraka and Sero had, along with a couple of class 1-B students they didn’t recognize. Apparently, Sero had the winning strategy of swinging through the trees with his tape, which was a good way to avoid the various mud beasts they had been faced with.

Waiting at the camp was a feast that had rivaled anything Midoriya had seen in the halls of Asgard; the scent of succulent breads and meats washed over the green-haired heroes, and they rushed to the table to join their friends (and Bakugou) for in a meal. 

Their friends began to filter in not long after, with Mineta bringing up the rear, severely beaten and burnt. 

“I thought we were supposed to be a team, guys,” Mineta grumbled to Kirishima and Bakugou as he sat between them. 

“You ran off to chase Yaoyorozu and Jiro,” Kirishima rolled his eyes. “Ditching your bros is not very manly, bro. You brought this upon yourself.”

“I’VE NEVER AGREED TO BE ON A TEAM IN MY LIFE!” Bakugou added as he took a giant bite out of a turkey leg. 

“I’m really glad we shook him off,” Momo muttered from the other side of Todoroki. 

As the two classes began to finish their meal, their teachers and the Wild Wild Pussycats emerged from the woods. 

“I hope you all enjoyed the meal! Because it’s the last one that’ll be prepared for you!” Mandalay beamed.

The students all looked up in surprise. 

“Thaaaat’s right!” Squealed Ragdoll. “You’ll have to make your own food as a team from now until the end of camp! Hope some of you know how to cook!” 

Midoriya looked down at his food and wondered if he could preserve it in some way. He’d never really taken an interest in cooking and didn’t exactly feel confident about it. 

They were all made to clean up after the meal, which wasn’t hard. Midoriya collected plates from his classmate and began to wash them with Sero. 

“We probably can’t screw this one up, right?” Sero joked, prompting Midoriya to laugh. 

“Y-yeah, I’m good at this one. Not sure about the cooking.” Midoriya agreed, scrubbing. 

As the two boys kept at their work, Sero eventually nudged Midoriya with his elbow (not on accident as he had earlier while they washed - he couldn’t help it sometimes), “Hey, don’t look now, but that little kid over there is giving you the stink eye.” 

Izuku, surprised, looked up to see his friend wasn’t lying. A small boy in a cap was looking at the two of them, and he didn’t look too pleased. But he seemed to especially be glaring at Midoriya. 

Before he could even think to do anything or approach the boy, Mandalay walked over to him. “Hey Kota! Why don’t you see if any of the girls need help?” She asked. Her voice was much more gentle than it had been when she was talking to the students. Indeed, it was the sort of cautious tone you would expect someone to give when they weren’t terribly used to children. 

The boy refused, and stomped off, kicking a rock as he did. Mandalay looked uneasy. 

That was all it took to set off what Thor called Izuku’s Chronic Hero Syndrome. As Kota stomped over, Midoriya stepped away and gave the boy a friendly smile. 

“Hey, would you mind giving the two of us a hand?” He asked, keeping a chipper tone. He was impressed - Thor’s lessons in self-confidence were doing him good. 

He wasn’t expecting that the boy’s response would be to rear back and punch him right in the babymaker. 

Unfortunately, the boy hadn’t expected that Midoriya’s Asgardian transformation would make this like punching a brick wall. Kota jumped back and cried in pain, clutching his hand. 

“Oh my gosh!” Midoriya exclaimed, kneeling down to check his hand. “I’m sorry! My skin is really durable! Is anything broken?”

From a few yards away, Todoroki was collecting leftovers to freeze. He smirked and shook his head. “Midoriya’s the only person who would apologize to someone who hit him in the balls.” 

Bakugou cackled with laughter at the whole thing. Before Midoriya could help, Kota stomped over, embarrassed, and HEADBUTT Bakugou in the balls instead. 

Bakugou screamed every swear word, even ones only known to old timey pirates, and crumbled onto the ground in agony, swearing revenge on Kota’s family.

Mandalay approached Izuku and placed a hand on his shoulders. Midoriya immediately froze up; he’d grown up having a crush on her, so having her this close made him lock up. “I’m sorry, Midoriya, are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, like I s-s-said, my skin is really durable,” he assured her. “That would have b-b-been bad if not.”

“Good,” Mandalay sighed in relief. “I’m sorry, all the same. That’s my nephew, Kota. I’ve had to take custody of him not too long ago, and it’s been an adjustment.”

“Oh...” Midoriya said, frowning and looking to where the boy stomped off. “He doesn’t seem to happy to be here...” 

“He’s not a fan of Pro Heroes.” Mandalay said, shifted uncomfortably. “It’s a long story. I’ll try and keep him reigned in.” 

She took off, and Midoriya returned to the dishes with Sero.

“Holy shit,” Sero whispered. “She touched you! You lucky bastard.”

Midoriya snorted with laughter.  
\-----  
The rest of the day had been filled with specific Quirk training - Iida pushed himself to the limits as he ran laps around the camp. Sero was screaming to the heavens as he shot buttloads of tape out of his arm. Everywhere the teachers looked, students were training there Quirks, usually while Uraraka floated by nauseously.

“COME ON KID, YOU’RE SLOPPY!” 

Tiger had taken it upon himself to train with Midoriya on some of his fighting form. Every swing was dodged by Tiger’s stretchy body, and at one point when Mjolnir was thrown at him, he spun his body out in spirals as the hammer flew through it like a goal post. 

By the end of the evening, the children were so exhausted that cooking their own dinner seemed like another trial in and of itself. Still, Todoroki went around lighting fires for everyone to cook (Bakugou’s attempt ended with the fire wood disintegrating), while Bakugou and a few others began chopping fish and vegetables. 

“Man, since when were you so good at this?” Kaminari asked his explosive classmate.

“IT’S JUST A GODDAMN KNIFE, WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID?!”

“You’re a big strong boy, aren’t you?” Pixie-bob purred abruptly from behind Midoriya, making him jump. “Why don’t you go fetch some buckets of water from the river for drinking?”

“A-alright,” Midoriya gulped.

“I’ll go with him!” Uraraka volunteered, though she wore a rather uncomfortable expression from the whole exchange. “I can float some of the buckets and make it easier.” 

“Hurry back!” Mandalay urged. “We’ve got some fun stuff planned for this evening!” 

The five students who had to take remedial training groaned; having to miss the festivities was the worst. 

Little did they know, they’d be the safest.


	22. Test of Courage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What better way to test courage than an actual villain attack?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing.

Midoriya sank into the hot springs, but he was unable to fully relax. They had been told by the Wild Wild Pussycats that after bath time was going to be a, “Test of Courage.” While Midoriya was a cautious lad growing up, he did not consider himself a coward by any means. Still, the other boys were talking, curiosity overflowing the tubs as they speculated on what the test could possibly be. 

“Maybe we’ll have to sit at the Waterfall of Truth and confront our inner -” Sero began, but Bakugou smacked him on the back of the head.

“KNOCK IT OFF WITH THE NARUTO REFERENCES, DAMN IT!” He snarled, “I’M TRYING TO RELAX!” 

“No one can relax if you’re yelling,” Sato yawned. 

“I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE, YOU EXTRA!” 

From the other side of the pool, the boys of class 1-B just rolled their eyes. They were pretty glad they didn’t have to deal with Bakugou. 

Midoriya sank into the water some more, chucking a bit. “What do you think the test will be, Todoroki?” 

The dual-Quirked boy shrugged, keeping his eyes closed as he soaked. “Hard to say. I’d rather not agonize over it.” 

Behind them, Mineta was staring at the wall separating the boys and girls from their baths. He was trembling, which was pretty off-putting for the boys who were not disgusting perverts (or the boys who were just mildly perverted like Kaminari and Sero). 

“How can you lamos be worried about that when there’s BOOBS on the other side of the wall?!” He said. 

“Because it’s not like we’re going to see them,” Kaminari replied, dryly. “Not worth losing your mind over...” 

“Maybe for you losers,” Mineta replied. Quickly, he popped some balls of his head. “BUT SEEING BOOBS FILLS ME WITH DETERMINATION!” 

He began using his Quirk to climb the side of the hot springs wall. “SOON! SOON I WILL SEE THE BOOBS!!”

The other boys stood up, abruptly. “Mineta, come on, you're going to get us in trouble!” Sero yelled, angrily. He shot a strand of tape at the smaller boy to stop him, but Mineta dodged to the right. 

“YOU WON’T STOP ME!”

“Come on man, peeping isn’t manly!” Kirishima scowled. 

Mineta didn’t bother to respond, only making gross, gibberish sounding noises. But as he approached the side of the wall, he found himself face to face with Kota, who was patrolling the top with a big stick. 

They locked eyes for awhile, and Kota gave the smallest of class 1-A an intense glare. “You’re disgusting.”

He whacked Mineta in the face with the stick, and Mineta fell off the side of the wall towards the pool. 

“OH SHIT! CLEAR OUT!” Tetsutetsu yelled. The rest of the boys took heed, and cleared the baths as Mineta crashed into them, sending water flying everywhere.

Midoriya could hear the girls cheering for Kota on the other side of the hot springs, but perhaps that was more than Kota could handle; the boy toppled over the side himself. Quickly, Midoriya ran over to catch him, snatching him out of air. 

“Damn, nice catch man,” Kirishima said, running over.

“You okay, Kota?” 

A bit disoriented from the fall, Kota immediately pushed himself off of Midoriya. The green-haired god of Thunder backed off a bit, allowing the boy to storm off, clearly embarrassed. 

“Jeez, that kid’s grumpier than you, Baku-bro.” Kirishima chuckled.

“I woulda let the precocious brat go splat,” Bakugou grumbled.

“That’s only because he headbutt you right in the gonads,” Mineta said as he climbed out of the hot springs. At that, Bakugou picked him up and threw him right back in the hot water. 

The relaxing atmosphere all but ruined, the boys left to get ready for whatever the, “Test of Courage,” could be.   
\-----  
As Ragdoll explained the Test of Courage, Midoriya had to admit, it sounded pretty cool; class 1-B would use their Quirks to try and scare class 1-A as they walked a path in the forest. He was a bit disappointed he wasn’t paired with Asui, but he figured Aoyama wasn’t too bad of a partner. He could be stuck with Mineta, like Todoroki was, or even by himself, like Bakugou. 

Still, Izuku was not used to being the emotional pillar for someone else. Yuga was increasingly jittery as the moonlight became hidden from the trees, jumping and grabbing Deku’s arm with each rustling of the leaves. He was so hysterical he didn’t actually notice when one of the class 1-B boys, Honenuki, popped his head out of the ground and said, “boo.” 

It was pretty humiliating for him.   
\-----  
Overlooking the training camp were many rocky hillsides. On the tallest, a group of ten people were gathered, in hoods, watching the training camp. 

Dabi pulled his hood down and surveyed the area. “Good. They’re all separated. This will be our best chance for it.” 

He looked at the Vangaurd Squad Tomura had selected, and made him de facto leader of. It didn’t seem like much; most of them had their own agendas. Himself included. Still, this small group would be more than enough to capture their target.

“You all have your objectives,” he stated, boredly. “Capture the target. Kill whoever else, if you want. I don’t really care. Now go.”   
\-----  
“Geez... They really know how to build a creepy atmosphere,” Uraraka sighed. 

“Yeah...” Tsuyu agreed. They were picked to travel the path after Midoriya and Aoyama, but they hadn’t seen any students of class 1-B or any sight of the boys who had gone before them. “We have to be nearing the halfway point. I would have thought someone would have tried something by now, kero.” 

As the two walked further into the wooded area, a sound from kilometers away rang out. It sounded like rocks being crushed, and was certainly too far away to be aimed at them. All the same, it was alarming. 

“What do you think that was, Tsuy-” 

FWOOSH!

Uraraka had taken a half-step forward to investigate, but a syringe was thrown from the bushes nearby, just barely missing her. The needle plunged into the bark of a nearby tree. 

A blonde girl emerged from the bushes, wearing what looked like a middle-school outfit... despite looking a little older than Asui and Uraraka herself. “Aw... what a bummer. I guess I missed.” 

Tsuyu and Uraraka stepped away, taking defensive stances. The blonde girl drew a knife as she stepped a bit closer. “Come on guys... it’s no fun to play if you don’t talk to me, too.”  
\-----  
“AOYAMA, WAIT!” Midoriya cried as Aoyama charged into the bushes. 

But it was too late. The jumpy boy had taken off running as the sound of rocks being crushed echoed around them. “Crap...” Midoriya sighed. He didn’t exactly like being alone in the woods either. He looked at Mjolnir and wondered if he would get in trouble for flying low enough to the path to get out of there. It seemed like cheating, but he also hadn’t seen any of the students from class 1-B in awhile. 

His decision was hastened when he looked through a clearing in the trees ahead and saw smoke. Definitely NOT campfire smoke.   
\-----  
Bakugou was waiting his turn to conquer the Test of Courage alone. And he knew he’d conquer it, the same way he would topple any villain with ease. Or test. Or classmate, if they looked at him the wrong way. 

BUT ESPECIALLY Deku, the next time they fought. 

As much as he hated to admit it... Deku had gotten the best of him. He had backed off since their conversation about Thor, but the truth of the matter was, it weighed on his mind frequently. 

I have to be the best. I am GOING to be the best, the number one Hero. Better than All Might. He thought, gritting his teeth.

The dream was alive and well. But things seemed to go sideways ever since the Sludge Villain attack. 

He shook the memory of his head and dug his nails into his palm. The Sludge Guy was shitty and stupid, and he could have beaten that guy if Deku hadn’t shown up with that stupid hammer. 

His thoughts were interrupted as a sound of impact and stone shattering came from a hill behind the forest. Behind him, he heard Mandalay gasp. 

“Kota...” she whispered, before it turned into a scream. “KOTA!”

“What, does he go headbutting rocks too?” Bakugou asked. 

“No,” Mandalay turned, looking conflicted. “He lost his parents to a supervillain attack. He’s hated Heroes ever since... He’s been going up there because this camp is hard for him. I need to go after him, are you going to be okay here on your own?”

Before Bakugou could answer, he shoved Mandalay aside and used an explosion to knock away a sword that bad been thrown at him. At the commotion, Tiger and Pixie-bob came running over. 

The smoke cleared, revealing a Lizard-like boy armed to the teeth with swords, and a giant of a woman with a giant magnet glaring them down.

“This is a closed campsite!” Tiger hollered, “You need to leave!” 

The Lizard and the big woman just laughed. “Oh, buddy,” the woman chuckled. “We’re not leaving until we get what we came for.” 

“This is bad,” Mandalay whispered. “I need to get Kota to safety, but we need to get rid of these duys. Where’s Ragdoll?” 

“We haven’t seen her in a few minutes,” Pixie-bob said, uneasily. “I’m sure we can-” 

They were interrupted as Bakugou began rocketing towards the hillside, impatient with the developments. “THIS IS STUPID! I’LL GET THE LITTLE BRAT, YOU GUYS JUST BEAT THESE BASTARDS!” 

‘WAIT!” Tiger yelled, but it was too late. Bakugou had already decided.   
\-----  
Eraserhead had clobbered another Dabi clone, and looked at the smoke rising in the woods. “If everyone is getting attacked...”

He turned back inside the door towards where his colleague was guarding the students (the five from his class and Monoma). “Vlad, I need to get to the Pussycats. Can you take care of these students?” 

“Of course!” Vlad bellowed. “Whatever it is, go quickly.” 

Aizawa nodded and took off sprinting away from the class cabin, towards where he knew the Pussycats were doing their test of Courage. He was thankful to find them there, but confused to find them fighting a lizard-man with a ridiculous sword (made of smaller swords tied together) and a giant woman with a big magnet. Whatever the magnet was, he figured it was Quirk related, because she was pulling Tiger towards her with it. He was able to use his sight to stop the attack, allowing Tiger to slug her across the jaw. 

“MANDALAY!” He shouted, running over and kicking towards the lizard, making it jump back. “I need you to relay a message.” 

“Little busy,” she grunted, dodging another sloppily-thrown blade, “better make it quick.”  
\-----  
Midoriya stared up at the smoke, shocked. Was this part of the scare? He strained his memory, briefly, trying to remember if any of the Class 1-B students could make smoke as part of their Quirk. 

He jumped as a voice rang out around him. _No, not around me,_ he reasoned, _it’s like it’s being whispered in my ear._

“This is Mandalay,” the voice said, “Per Pro Hero Eraserhead, as teacher for Class 1-A and representative of UA, we are under attack from the League of Villains. Given the urgency of the situation, all students are given express permission to fight back!” 

The voice was gone, and Deku’s heart sank. 

Under attack?!

He took off running, spun Mjolnir, and began flying over the path. He had learned from the Forest of Death Exercise that he didn’t want to go straight up and make himself an easy target; electing to stay in the cover of trees would make things safer. But if he headed towards the smoke, he knew he could be of some help. “Maybe I can summon a storm or blow it in another direction,” he murmured, “I have to be towards the-”

“HEY WAIT!” 

“-end?” He said, throwing his legs out in front of him to stop and hover in the air. He looked around, but didn’t see anyone who could have called out to him. “Uh... hello?” 

“Down here.”

He looked down and screamed involuntarily. On the path was the disembodied head of Class 1-B girl, Tokage Setsuna. “HOLY WHOA, ARE YOU OKAY?!”

“Huh?” Setsuna, or at least, her head, blinked at him, “Oh, yeah, no this is part of Quirk. It’s Lizard Tail Cut. I can detach body parts and control them and recall them. Or grow them back. I don’t like to do that though. Can you imagine how much energy that would take to regrow my whole body? I had to do that when I was seven. I slept for a week.” 

“O-oh.” Midoriya replied, having to suppress his Quirk-obsession. “That uh... actually, that sounds really cool, and I would love to ask you more about that, but why are you down there?” 

“Right!” She said, “Sorry, when it’s just my head I get a bit loopy. I need your help!” Her expression changed to one of utmost urgency.

Midoriya landed and crouched down to eye level with her. “What’s going on?” 

“There’s a villain deeper in the woods,” Setsuna explained, nudging her head to the side. “He’s using some sort of gas, and he knocked most of us in 1-B out. Some of your classmates got gassed too. When I hit the ground I was able to roll my head out of there, but I’m still pretty woozy.” She frowned. “Usually I’d be able to levitate my head, but I want to conserve energy and wait for help.” 

Midoriya’s eyes flashed. If they stay in that gas any longer... “Which way is it?” 

“Take me with you, and I can show you!” Setsuna gave a toothy, jagged grin. 

Midoriya turned red as he picked up Setsuna’s head and cradled it under his left arm. Well this is definitely a story for Thor. “Lead the way, Setsuna.”   
\-----  
Kota scrambled backwards on his hands on the dirt and gravel path, trembling in fear. 

He’d been terrified of Muscular ever since he’d lost his parents, but he never in his wildest dreams have imagined the two would have come face to face. Even from behind his hood, Kota could tell it was his parents’ murderer.

“Well, well, well,” the giant slab of human stared down at the boy. “Never thought I’d run into a runt like you on this mission.” 

He stepped forward, and Kota tried to scramble away - and almost topped down the side of the hill. 

“But... you’re not on the list!” Muscular’s grin turned wicked. “Which means I can get an easy first kill!” 

Muscular lunged forwards, but before he could reach the boy, there was a scream of, “YOU BASTARD!” and an explosion that threw Muscular back. 

Vaulting through the air, Bakugou tackled Kota out of the way and used a free arm to blast the two of them further out of the way. Rolling across the path, Bakugou sprang up and faced the villain. 

Muscular stood up, and turned to Bakugou with a wicked glare. All the explosion had managed to do was burn the hood around his head, revealing a metallic covering over where he was missing an eye. 

“One of the Hero Wannabes, huh?” 

Bakugou clenched his fists together. He wasn’t a wannabe. He’d prove it.


	23. Rescues and Rampages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The assault on the Training Camp continues!! Will everyone live?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing.

Bakugou grasped his hand onto Muscular’s face, desperately, and unleashed as big of an explosion as he could muster. But even over the roar of the blast, he could hear the villain’s guffawing laughter. The larger man grabbed Bakugou’s hand through the smoke and flames, and crushed the boy’s fingers with ease. 

As Muscular increased muscle mass along his right arm and punched Bakugou across the jaw, the explosive teen began to wonder just where he was going wrong. Every explosion Bakugou leveled at the villain, the larger man would just grow muscles to shield himself from the blast. 

The force of the punch sent Katsuki flying back into the mountainous wall. 

“Heh,” Muscular chuckled, “For all that bluster and gusto, all you can do is just make some pretty fireworks, can’t you boy?”

Bakugou pulled himself out from the divet in the side of the mountain and spat blood at his side. “Shut up.” He did his best to glare daggers at Muscular, despite his left eye being almost swollen shut. 

Muscular laughed. “You’re a little too big for your britches, kid. You aren’t even making this fun for me. Why don’t you run back home, and I’ll just take that kid.”

Behind Bakugou, Kota made a squeaking noise of some kind. 

“You think I care if this is fun for you?!” Bakugou seethed, propelling himself forward with explosions, despite the pain in his shattered fingers. 

Muscular swiped for the explosive teen, but Bakugou diverted himself over the top of the villain and landed on his back and shoulders. Using both hands to throw the monstrous behemoth to the mountain path and blow himself backwards, he landed on his feet and shook out the pain in his wrists. “I’M A HERO, YOU DINGUS! THAT MEANS I DON’T LOSE TO SOMEONE LIKE YOU!” 

Muscular snapped back to his feet and turned to Bakugou, wiping off the scuff mark that had appeared on his cheek. “A Hero, huh? You think that title MEANS anything?” 

Bakugou looked around, trying to formulate a plan. He needed a distraction of some kind. 

As he did, the villain’s mouth contorted into a sick grin. “How many Heroes do you think I’ve killed? The title did nothing to save them! And once I kill you, we’ll kidnap that stupid Midoriya kid AND KILL EVERY LAST HERO HERE!” 

“Kidnap Deku?” Bakugou grunted in confusion.

Muscular ignored him and lunged, but did not move. He looked down, in shock and anger, to see a rope of water had attached itself to his leg. 

Behind him, Kota was shaking, but had his hands out. “It... it does mean something.” 

“What?!” Muscular huffed. 

“...my parents were Heroes!” He cried.

“YOU’RE FUCKING RIGHT YOU LITTLE TWAT!” Bakugou screamed, rocketing forward with a plan. 

With Muscular momentarily stopped, Bakugou landed in front of him and exploded the part of the mountain ledge he was on. Muscular immediately began to fall down the side of the large hill. Taking a chance, Bakugou continued to explode the side of the mountain, sending chunks of boulder and rock down to bury the villain. The sound of the blasts drowned out the sickening thud of Muscular hitting the ground, as well as the crash of stone all around and on top of him. 

Finally, after a few minutes, Bakugou collapsed back onto the path, breathless. “Fucking...Muscle Shit...” he gasped.   
\-----  
Asui Tsuyu propelled herself forward with her powerful legs to dropkick Toga, but the villain sidestepped the amphibious hero and made a beeline for Uraraka with a knife in hand. 

Uraraka was no slouch though; her training with Gunhead allowed her to wrestle Toga to the ground. But before she could fully subdue the blonde, a tooth came zooming towards her. She rolled away - as did Toga - barely avoiding getting pierced. 

Above them, deranged serial killer Moonfish used his teeth to tromp over the girls’ battlefield, not even bothering to see what he snapped as he used his growing teeth as stilts to traverse the woods. “FLESSHHHH! MUST! CONSUME!”

The distraction was long enough for Toga to tackle Uraraka against a tree and raise a knife to her. Before she could plunge it in though, a tongue came flying through the clearing and wrapped itself around Toga’s arm. 

Without even pausing to see what grabbed her, Toga sprang backwards off of Uraraka, threw a knife that pinned the brunette’s sweatshirt to a tree, and in mid spin, threw a tubed syringe back towards Asui that just barely missed the frog-like girl’s thigh. 

“Stay put Ochako!” Toga giggled towards her trapped prey, “I’ll be right back to chat!” 

“You can chat with my fist!” Uraraka scowled, struggling to get the knife out of the tree.

Toga charged at Asui again with another knife, but Tsuyu decided to play defensively, jumping backwards and clinging to a tree. 

“Tsu, come on, that’s no fun!” Toga beamed, drawing more syringes that were attached to tubes on her person. “Come play with me!” 

Tsuyu’s normally stoic face contorted slightly into a scowl. “Don’t call me that!” 

Toga didn’t answer immediately, but threw two syringes at Asui. Tsuyu vaulted from the tree over Toga and landed in a somersault past the villain. 

“Why not, Tsu?” Toga giggled as she followed the Hero with her eyes. 

Himiko was already charging to attack, but Tsuyu sprang up to her hands and thrust her feet back to kick the villain. Toga collapsed back to the ground, and Asui took off running to help Uraraka free herself. “Only my friends can call me that, kero!” Asui ribbited without looking behind her. 

Before she could make it, a syringe sank into the back of her thigh, and she fell to the ground herself. 

“TSUYU!” Uraraka yelled, struggling further against the knife, her sweatshirt beginning to tear. 

“Suck suck,” Toga chanted, as some of Tsuyu’s blood began to travel up the syringes tubes to her own reserves. “That’s pretty mean, Tsuyu...suck suck. Because I think you and I are similar.” 

“Kero?!” 

“Suck suck... I can feel it in your blood...”  
\-----  
“Is the gas stopping?” Setsuna asked from under Midoriya’s arm.

The God of Thunder had taken to the ground in order to keep Mjolnir spinning above his head. This allowed him to create an air pocket - or miniature tornado around himself - to push the gas away from himself and Tokage. He knew she would be extremely susceptible to it as just a head. 

But as she made the comment, he dropped the currant slightly to find she was right - the gas was gone. 

“Someone else must have gotten to it,” Midoriya shrugged. “I need to get back to wherever the smoke - WHOA!” 

Midoriya jumped backwards as a large, white blade slammed into the ground where he had just been. That looks a lot stronger than one of Stain’s swords!

“YOOOUUU!!!” Moonfish crowed from high above where Midoriya was. 

Hurriedly, Midoriya rushed over to some bushes, dodging more of the villain’s teeth, and tucked Setsuna’s head under a bush. 

“Get help!” He hissed to her.

Usually a motor mouth, Setsuna nodded, and began to levitate her head back to her body. 

Izuku turned to see a tooth shooting towards him as an extended blade. He swung Mjolnir, shattering the tooth, but the base just extended further pushing him against a tree. He could feel his hardened skin start to give way, so he swung Mjolnir down again to break the tooth, and took to the air to try and distance himself from Moonfish. 

His mind raced - he’d remember seeing a news special on the deranged cannibal villain, Moonfish before he started U.A. He was familiar with the villains infinitely growing teeth, and how much trouble he had given the Pro Heroes in capturing him. 

“WHY...” Moonfish rasped, teeth bending at odd angles to chase Izuku, “WHY DIDN’T THAT TEAR IN TO YOU?! I MUST CHEW YOU!” 

“THAT’S DISGUSTING!” Midoriya yelled, heaving his hammer with all his might. It zipped through the air and smashed Moonfish directly in the face. The bases of his teeth snapped, and the villain fell in to the trees.

He recalled his weapon, and no sooner had he caught did teeth begin erupting from the tree tops after him. 

“Damn,” he breathed, “now I can’t see him...” 

Midoriya weaved in between the teeth and landed in the clearing, where teeth began to zigzag around him. He threw Mjolnir in front of him and spun it in a circle around him, shattering teeth and scanning the trees for their origin point. 

Before he could though, a loud, rushing sound akin to a freight train gave both the student and the Villain pause. Without any further warning, a gigantic Dark Shadow came bursting through the trees, destroying all the teeth and ripping down any trees in its path. 

The entity plowed into Midoriya and sent him flying into the woods. He smacked into the trunk of a tree and lost consciousness.   
\-----

Mandalay was pretty sure that this Lizard-like boy she was fighting was a) a big fan of Stain and b) a giant nerd. Who else would think that fighting with a giant sword made out of small swords tied together was a good idea? He had almost impaled himself and his partner, Magne, as errant knives and short swords were flung off the monstrosity. Still, it made fighting him difficult considering blades were almost constantly falling from the sky. 

“OI, CAT TEACHER!”

Without warning, a student from class 1-A came bursting from the sky, using an explosion to scatter break Spinner’s swords, sending knives everywhere. 

Mandalay stepped back in surprise - it took her a minute to recognize the student as Bakugou Katsuki from class 1-A. His face and upper body was bruised and bloody, and it looked like his fingers had been crushed as well. But she ignored this as Kota hopped off his back and ran over to her. “Kota?!” 

Taking advantage of a break in the action, Spinner threw a blade at Bakugou, who used a small explosion to knock it away. 

“Can you get a message out to everyone?” Bakugou grunted to Mandalay.   
\-----  
“Hey! Hey, Midoriya, wake up!” 

Izuku could hear a familiar voice, but his eyes didn’t want to open. It sounded like a girl. 

_“Students!”_

That was... Mandalay’s voice. It was in his head, and it was making the headache he was feeling all that much worse. 

_“We’ve received confirmation of what the villains want! They’re here to kidnap Midoriya Izuku! Please report to the main cabins as early as possible!”_

“Wait, what?!” Came a male voice. It was familiar too. 

“Hey! Come on, you need to wake up!” Another male voice. 

“Hang on,” the girl said, “let me try...” 

Without warning, Midoriya could feel a tongue slowly drag across the side of his cheek. His eyes snapped open and he saw Setsuna Tokage from class 1-B smiling down at him. “Rise and shine, cutie!” 

Midoriya immediately slid backwards and sat up against a tree, shock and pain mixing as his headache returned in full force. “W-what?!” He raised his hand and Mjolnir flew to him. Immediately, relief began to come for his head pain. 

He looked up to see Todoroki and Shouji were there as well. Setsuna stood up and scratched at the back of her head. “Sorry, needed to wake you up somehow.”

Midoriya briefly rested his head in his palm. “So... that message from Mandalay wasn’t a dream either then?” 

“Good... you heard that,” Shouji sighed. 

“Thankfully, Setsuna found us after Mineta ditched me,” Todoroki added. “Though it looks like we missed the action.” 

“Yeah... what happened?” Midoriya asked, rubbing his head. “It looked like Dark Shadow, but wasn’t Tokoyami with you, Shouji?”

The three looked towards the masked boy, who turned and looked at the destroyed clearing in shame. “It... well, we were going through the test of courage when a man who looked like a magician attacked. I was in a bad spot, and Tokoyami used Dark Shadow to defend us... but...”

“... he lost control in the darkness?” Todoroki asked. 

Shouji merely nodded. “I... I don’t know if I’ll be able to forgive myself if something happens to him.” 

“Not to make you feel worse, but considering what he did here, I think you’d need to worry more about what he does to anyone else,” Setsuna said. She levitated one of her eyes above the trees and let out a low whistle as it floated back to her a moment later. “Looks like a T-Rex went through here. But we need to get this guy to the front of the camp, right?” 

Todoroki and Shouji exchanged glances, and nodded solemnly. 

Midoriya hesitated as he climbed to his feet. He looked towards the devastation in the clearing; the torn limbs strewn about the woods, the cracked tree trunks and shattered rocks. His imagination immediately flashed to what could have happened to his classmates if they had been the ones thrown into a tree and...

“No.” He replied. He swallowed hard and gathered his wits. “We get Tokoyami first. Then we go to the front.” 

“Midoriya, are you sure?” Todoroki asked. “They’re looking for you specifically.” 

“I know, I know,” he assured his friend, “but Tokoyami could really hurt someone. And if Dark Shadow is weakened by light, my lighting and your fire are the best shot we have to weaken him. Even the teachers couldn’t do that, right?”

Todoroki took a second to rub his chin and consider this. “I suppose that makes sense. But we do this quick and then get to safety.” 

Shouji exhaled, relieved. “Thanks, guys.” 

Setsuna laughed. “Guess you 1-A guys aren’t that bad after all. What’s the plan, hammer man?” 

Midoriya spun Mjolnir overhead to levitate above the ground. “Follow the destruction. Come on.” 

He flew off after the direction Dark Shadow had rampaged down, his friends following. 

From a few feet away, Dabi watched amongst some bushes with Kurogiri and Twice. 

“Ugh...” Dabi grunted, boredly. “We were so close. Damn kids, getting to him first.” 

“Aw, we probably could have taken him!” Twice said. “Why’d you tell us to wait?!” 

Dabi thought back, seeing Todoroki’s face in his head briefly. He shook the thought away. “We need to outnumber Midoriya, Twice. Get Compress over here. I have an idea.”


	24. The Disappearing Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The students of UA scramble to make it out of the forest.
> 
> Some of them do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing

Asui, syringe still in her thigh, shot her tongue out of her mouth and grabbed the knife pinning Uraraka to the tree. With a swift yank, she pulled the blade from the wood, freeing her friend. 

“TSUYU!” Toga squealed with girlish delight. “What else that tongue do, girl?!”

Uraraka took off like a bat out of hell for Toga. The villain stopped drawing Tsuyu’s blood and readied herself with a knife. Asui took the opportunity to use her tongue to remove the syringe from her leg and sprang up to rejoin the fight.

Ochako was able to avoid a knife attack and slap a hand across Toga’s face, causing her to begin to float upward. Off-balance and vulnerable, Asui followed it up by grabbing Toga across the waste with her tongue and throwing the villain towards the tree Uraraka had been pinned to. Uraraka released the villain at the peak of the throw so she go soaring into the tree with a satisfying smack. 

Toga bounced off the wood and rolled onto her knees on the dirt. To the disturbance of the students, she began to giggle as she wiped blood from her cheek. 

“You guys... are. SO. GOOD at this!” She grinned up at them dementedly. 

The girls prepared to attack again, but the sounds of footsteps running towards them interrupted the villain. Toga blanched. “Ugh... any more than this and I’ll be outnumbered.” She stood up and beamed at them. “Let’s catch up another time!” 

Toga took off into the bushes and Tsuyu jumped after her. But once she got past the brush, the villain had seemingly vanished. 

“Uraraka, is that you?!” 

Tsuyu reemerged from the bushes as Midoriya’s voice called out from the path behind Uraraka. She could see he was flying up towards them and fast. Behind him, Todoroki was rushing with an ice slide. 

Uraraka began to wave at them, relieved, but jumped back as the two of them stopped in front of her in a hurry. They just barely avoided crashing into each other. 

“What’s going on?!” She yelped as Asui hopped over to her.

“You might want to get back,” Todoroki warned.

“Why?” 

“There’s no time!” Midoriya gulped, spinning Mjolnir. “NOW!” 

Before Tsuyu or Uraraka could question further, the sound of a rushing freight train deafened them, and Shouji and Setsuna emerged from the bushes, luring Dark Shadow towards the group. Immediately, Midoriya and Todoroki unleashed a surge of lighting and fire into the air, lighting up the night sky blindingly. 

Their plan had worked; Dark Shadow shrank down helplessly, dropping Tokoyami on to the ground in front of them. Midoriya, Todoroki, Setsuna, and Shouji all let out sighs of relief. 

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” Uraraka yelled, flailing her arms in confusion. 

Shouji and Midoriya rushed forward to help Tokoyami to his feet, while Todoroki turned to her and shrugged. “Long story short, Dark Shadow went berserk. We got it under control.”

“You alright, Tokoyami?” Midoriya asked as Tokoyami finally got back to a vertical base. 

“Yes... yes I think I’m alright as I can be on such a night of horrors,” Tokoyami grimaced, clutching his head in his hands and leaning against Shouji. “I’m sorry if I hurt anyone.”

Midoriya decided to leave out that Dark Shadow blasted him through a tree, but Shouji had already turned to bow, taking both boys by surprise. 

“I’m the one who should apologize, my friend,” the multi-armed boy said remorsefully. “I should not have left you alone when Moonfish attacked.” 

Tokoyami stepped forward and rested a hand on Shouji’s shoulders. “Nonsense, my friend. If I had ended up hurting you, I would not have forgiven myself.”

Midoriya shifted a bit uncomfortably, feeling like he was now maybe intruding on quite a bromance moment. Thankfully, Todoroki, Uraraka, Asui, and Setsuna had walked up to join them, saving him from any further awkwardness. 

“Well if you guys are done being lovey-dovey, we gotta get this slab of man-meat to the teachers,” Setsuna interrupted, jabbing her thumb towards Midoriya. 

He turned a shade of red as Asui puffed out her cheeks slightly, but nodded. “Y-yeah. We should get out of here.” 

“Wait,” Todoroki said, grabbing Midoriya’s hand as the green-haired god turned to leave. “We know the villains are after you. We should all surround you, just to be safe.”

Midoriya gave him a look of confusion, but Todoroki was already delegating. “I can take the lead. Shouji and Asui, take his left, Uraraka and Setsuna, take the right. Tokoyami, take the rear and use Dark Shadow if needed... Midoriya and I can always get it under control again if need be.”

No one seemed to object, and they all took the positions the two-toned haired boy had ordered immediately, taking Midoriya by surprise. “G-guys,” he stammered out, “You um... uh... you don’t have to protect me. I don’t want you guys to get hurt.” 

“Kero, don’t play tough guy with us,” Asui replied, giving him a smirk. “We care about you.”

“Yeah!” Uraraka cried, fist-pumping. “We’re not letting any villains get our friend!” 

“Besides, if you’re being targeted by villains, the best thing to do as Heroes in training would be to protect you,” Shouji added.

Relenting, Midoriya just looked to his feet and smiled, fighting back the feeling of his eyes watering. “Alright... but if we get attacked, I’m not just going to stand back and let you guys fight without me.”   
\-----  
“Any sign of Midoriya or any other students?” Aizawa asked as he met up with Mandalay. 

“None, damn it,” Mandalay cursed. Spinner and Magne had escaped into portals, but she still had to stay up front to see to all the students who were retreating from the forest. Most of class 1-B could be accounted for, but a few of them and half of class 1-A were still noted to be in the woods. “I can’t get ahold of Ragdoll either to let me know where they are. Pixie-Bob is MIA too.” 

Eraserhead looked out onto the path, seeing the smoke and flames still covering the trees. “Someone needs to go in after him.” 

Before Mandalay, Tiger, or Aizawa could even decided who would go, Bakugou used explosions, despite his broken fingers to launch himself into the woods. “I’LL GO GET THAT STUPID DEKU FOR TAKING SO LONG!” 

“BAKUGOU, WAIT!” Eraserhead yelled, using his Quirk to keep Bakugou grounded. Unfortunately, all that did was cause the blonde to hit the ground running instead. “Damn kids...”   
\-----  
Dabi looked from Toga, Spinner, Magne, Twice, Kurogiri, and Compress. “Is... is that everyone?” 

“I think everyone else got captured or knocked out,” Magne relented, uneasily. 

“Even Muscular and Moonfish?” Compress asked, “Those were our big guns.” 

“It’s fine.” Kurogiri answered. “With this, we’ll be able to get our target, no problem. Nab a few others, if it makes it easier for you, Compress.” 

“The one with the shadow Quirk might make for some interesting firepower,” the magician conceded. “Just make sure we separate those two from the others enough.” 

Dabi nodded. “Okay Twice, make as many Togas as you can.” 

“Of course! Who doesn’t love a Toga party!” Twice replied with a thumbs up, before immediately adding. “Anyone with a brain, probably.”   
\-----  
“Sorry that tracking me down took us further from the end of the trail,” Tokoyami said, realizing they still were not out of the woods yet. Figuratively and literally. 

Midoriya was about to say something along the lines of, “Don’t worry about it,” or, “I’m just glad everyone is okay,” but before he could, Setsuna’s eyeball came shooting back down to her.

“KNIVES!” She yelled, “LOTS OF THEM AT TWELVE O’CLOCK!” 

Todoroki waved his arm, a wall of ice appearing, and soon the, “chink,” sound of metal striking it began to confirm Tokage’s warning. 

Before any further strategy could take place, a wave of Togas came charging from the left and right in a pincer attack. Uraraka judo-flipped one of them, prompting it to disintegrate upon impact.

“They’re clones!” She grunted.

Midoriya charged to Asui and Uraraka’s sides as they began attacking their assailants. Tsuyu’s powerful kicks were enough to liquify a clone, but Midoriya smashed Mjolnir against the ground, sending a shockwave of electricity coursing through the grounds that took out a whole slew of them. 

He turned back to help Shouji and Setsuna, but they seemed to have the matter in hand. Todoroki was defending their front with ice spikes as well, but...

Tokoyami was nowhere to be seen. 

“DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME, FRECKLES!” 

Midoriya whipped back around to see Toga - a clone or the original, he didn’t know - had slipped past Asui and Uraraka and was lunging at him with a knife. 

She brought the blade down between his eyes, and the metal snapped against the bridge of his nose impotently. 

Toga looked up from her broken knife at Midoriya as if he had personally offended her with coarse and foul language. “You...broke my knife?!” 

Midoriya stood still as she grabbed a large syringe and tried to pierce his arm, and the device bent against his biceps. As she looked at him, he gave a rare, confident smirk. “I don’t bleed.” 

She scowled at him, and tried to tell him, “you’re disgusting,” but somewhere around the, “dis,” Midoriya smacked her across the face with Mjolnir, knocking the villain into the bushes. 

“Found the real one!” He called to his fighting comrades. They all turned to close in on her, and he...   
\-----

Bakugou was pretty quick at gliding through the air with his explosions, but with a bloody eye and broken fingers, it was not something he could keep up. He was grounded for the time being, and he was not a fan of it. Still, he kept his feet pounding against the dirt and grass, charging towards the sound of knives and Icyhot’s ice walls. It was good that the sounds of battle got Bakugou’s heart pumping anyway. 

Trees and shrubs went flying past him, and he could see figures forming on his horizon. _I’D RECOGNIZE THAT STUPID CANDY CANE HAIR ANYWHERE_ , he rationalized, _THAT’S GOT TO BE THE ICYHOT BASTARD!_

As the figures came into view, he was right - Todoroki was in front of a group of other students, who were going after a blonde girl in a school uniform. The problem was that there was a ton of her; numerous copies of the girl were starting to swarm him. 

While Bakugou certainly wouldn’t have cared if that show off with two Quirks (where does someone get off having more Quirks than him?!) got hurt, he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to show up Icyhot. 

With a triumphant cackle he lunged into a group of Toga copies and unleashed an explosion that liquified a lot of them.

From the bushes nearby, the real Toga was recovering with Spinner. She looked up at the blast, and nearly had a heart attack. 

Toga saw Bakugou, covered in blood, eye swollen shut, fingers in a mangled mess. As the explosions made his broken appendages flap lightly, he was splattered with goo from her destroyed clones.

It was perhaps the most beautiful thing Himiko Toga had ever seen in her life. In an instant, she forgot about Stain, and was enamored with this bloody blonde boy. 

“Bakugou?!” Shouji exclaimed. “What are you doing here?!” 

Todoroki shared the sentiment; it wasn’t hard to see Bakugou was running on pure adrenaline. He didn’t even look this bad after his fight with Midoriya... 

“WHERE’S THAT STUPID DEKU?!” Bakugou screamed, destroying the last of Toga’s clones. “I’M GOING TO KICK HIS ASS AND DRAG HIM OUT OF HERE SO THOSE DAMN VILLAINS DON’T GET HIM!” 

“Relax, Screamy,” Setsuna huffed at him. “We had him in the back with... Toko... yami.”

She paused, turning behind her and expecting to see Midoriya and Tokoyami where the group had left them; at the back of the group, swinging his hammer around to defend them. But it was pretty clear to everyone that both Tokoyami and Midoriya were no longer there.

“Where did they go?!” Uraraka blurted out in a panic. 

“M-maybe they got scattered going after the real Toga?” Asui suggested, though the nervousness in her voice was apparent. 

There was a pause a brief pause before Setsuna gulped and raised her hand. “I uh... I don’t think so. Isn’t that... his?”

She pointed a bit further behind them, where the fight had moved from. Sitting in the middle of the path was Mjolnir, handle pointing to the sky as if Midoriya had dropped it from his side. 

Unknowing how the hammer worked, Setsuna walked over and tried to lift it. The weapon wouldn’t budge, and after a few grunts, she backed off. “Ugh, how does he make it look so easy?” 

The students from class 1-A looked at each other uneasily; Midoriya was never without the hammer, and if it was knocked out of his hands, he summoned it not long afterwards. 

“OH HO HO!” Came a voice from above them, making them all jump. “Such simple-minded children, aren’t you?”

The students all looked up to see a man in a magician’s get up standing on a tree branch, holding what looked like two marbles. “Like any good trick, children, all it takes is a diversion to get someone’s eyes off the prize. I’ve got,” he waved the marbles dramatically, “your friends right here.” 

The villain might have been expecting more time to monologue, but he jumped backwards to another branch in alarm as Asui shot her tongue for him, just missing. “GIVE MIDORIYA BACK!” She croaked angrily. 

“Now why would I do that?!” He laughed. “It wouldn’t be a great final act if my trick just failed.” 

“YOU SHITTY VILLAIN!” Bakugou roared, and used an explosion to propel himself up the branch. Or at least, he tried. His broken wrist and fingers finally gave way on him, and he crashed chest-first into the tree instead. Shouji quickly ran over and caught the blonde as he fell to the ground. 

“You kids don’t appreciate fine art.” The magician villain snorted. “Toodles!” He turned and began dashing down the forest. 

The other students immediately gave chase, Todoroki using spikes of ice to push the plants aside as they chased the villain into the woods. 

“How’s he so fast?!” Setsuna grunted. 

The villain took a hard left turn into some trees, and as the students attempted to follow him, a wall of blue fire rose up amongst the brush, cutting them off. Quickly, Todoroki skid to a halt and did his best to put out with his ice. Even for as strong as he was, it still took some time. 

When the flames were finally under control, Bakugou blew the ice wall open with an explosion, to see that the magician and Toga were entering a portal, the rest of the League of Villains having already fled through it. 

The group charged for the villain, and he turned and laughed, stepping backwards into the portal. But before he disappeared altogether, a laser shot from the forest, striking his mask and knocking one of the marbles out of his hands. He collapsed back into the portal, and it closed just before Asui and Todoroki had reached it. 

As Todoroki punched at the ground, enraged, Shouji and Setsuna grabbed the marble that had fallen from the magician’s hands. They jumped back as it broke open and Tokoyami collapsed onto the ground, growing immediately to his full size. 

“Midoriya!” He rasped, panting heavily. “Wh- where’s Midoriya?!” 

“Breathe, my friend,” Shouji said, kneeling down to him. 

Uraraka and Asui approached as well, and once Tokoyami caught his breath, Asui asked, “What happened, Tokoyami?” 

The bird-headed boy looked around, realization hitting him about what had happened. 

“When... when we were all gathering in to get the real Toga, and got swarmed by clones, someone else dove after me.” Tokoyami said, looking to the ground. “The magician villain.”

“He did?” Uraraka asked. “Jeez... I never even saw him.” 

Tokoyami nodded. “He went to shrink me down into the marble. I believe that’s his Quirk. But Midoriya dove in to stop him and... well...”

Tokoyami couldn’t finish the sentence. But he didn’t need to; everyone could tell what had happened. 

Exhausted, defeated, and broken, Bakugou finally passed out his injuries and fatigue caught up to him.  
\-----  
 _I have to get out of here,_ were the first words on his mind when Midoriya woke up. Reality, however, was not as simple. 

Whatever they were keeping Midoriya’s hands in, it was strong. It felt like metal, and the encasing was so tight that he couldn’t open his fists to summon Mjolnir. His eyes were covered by blindfolds, and the chains around his ankles and forearms kept his motion limited. 

Before he could process the situation further, a blindfold was ripped from his eyes, and bright light burned against his retina, blinding him momentarily. As his vision adjusted, he could see himself surrounded by the various Villains who had attacked the training camp in a rundown bar. Immediately, he began struggling against the binds, the metal chains straining against the floor as he struggled. 

“Stop.” Came a calm voice from his right. 

It was Dabi. He stepped next to Midoriya held a palm of blue flames inches away from the boy’s face. Feeling the intense heat against his cheek, Midoriya stopped struggling; blades and teeth might be stopped by his Asgardian toughness, but he was just as susceptible to burning as he’d always been. 

“Feisty one, aren’t you?”

Midoriya looked up to see Shigaraki standing directly in front of him on the other side of the room. 

“Real,’Leeroy Jenkins,’ type, definitely,” the leader of the League continued. “We definitely picked the right one.”

Izuku paused, picking his words carefully as his eyes darted across the room. He hadn’t encountered some of the Villains here, and with no way to summon Mjolnir or break his bonds quickly, he knew he needed to play this diplomatically. Quelling the equal urges he had to go berserk with rage and cry at the situation he’d gotten in, he looked across the room at Shigaraki and asked, “What do you want with me?”

A chuckle went up across the room amongst all the Villains.

“Now, Midoriya,” Shigaraki laughed, “Where would the fun be in just telling you?”


	25. Bakugou and Pals, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh! Midoriya was kidnapped!!!!
> 
> ...pretty dumb, all things considered. He's got a lot of people who care about his safety.

“Yo- uh... You’ve gotten really good at saving me!” Midoriya’s voice sang out to her, a big smile on his face. 

That was when Tsuyu’s eyes shot open, and she sat upright in her bed. The crushing realization that, once again, this was only a dream weighed on her as the first rays of the rising sun began to trickle their way through her window. 

She drew her knees up to her chest and gave a croaking groan. 

For the last two nights, Asui had the same dream of her catching Midoriya only to wake up in a cold sweat. As a result, she had barely slept at all. She looked at her phone and realized that it was still the early; she wasn’t planning on visiting Yaoyorozu with her class until the afternoon. With a heavy heart, she laid back down and wondered where Midoriya was now.   
\-----

“I SAY THEE AGAIN, MORTAL!” Thor snarled, lifting All Might by his collar. “WHERE IS MIDORIYA?!”

All Might had toppled so many things in his course as the Number One Pro Hero of Japan. Very few things gave him pause, and he certainly never hesitated to throw down with a villain. He could say, with some sense of pride, that there was not much he feared, outside of Gran Torino, his former sidekick Sir Nighteye, and commitment (he was working on it). 

He had never fought the God of Thunder though, and the enraged Asgardian currently lifting him off the ground in front of the entire police department (not at all bothered by the amount of guns trained on him) was causing a bit of sweat to cover his brow. “We’ve been tracking him down.” The Symbol of Peace looked around him. “This is not the place for blows. And it won’t solve anything.” 

Thor slowly set the other blonde down. All Might was not all that surprised that immediately after notifying Midoriya’s mother of his disappearance, a strike of lightning met him at the police station. 

“All Might,” the lead detective whispered to the Hero, “Who’s the nut?” 

Before anyone could answer, Thor boomed, “I am Thor, God of Thunder and King of Asgard, a founding member of the Avengers.” 

Snickers rang up over some of the officers, but they were silenced as Thor gave them a glare, accompanied by a thunderclap outside. 

The detective eyed Thor in disbelief though. “It can’t be...”

“It is,” All Might sighed. “Thor, this is Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. He’s the lead investigator on Midoriya’s case, and a trusted ally of mine.” 

Thor looked at the mortal with a more formal sense of neutrality. “Greetings. I’m glad to see at least someone in this room has the sense to believe me.”

“I don’t have much of a choice,” Tsukauchi explained. “My Quirk is Human Lie Detector. So I mean, I can tell what you’re saying is true.”

“Oh,” Thor replied, a bit deflated. “A good ability for an officer of the Law.” 

“It’s quite handy,” Tsukauchi said, “I was just surprised. Most of the world thinks you’re dead.” 

“Yes, well, staying on Midgard wasn’t as enjoyable after all my friends and loved ones died,” the god sniped, dryly. “Midoriya is something of a protege of mine, though. His well-being is paramount to me.”

“Makes a lot of sense, considering the hammer and the lightning the kid is known for,” the detective conceded. “Lots of people here have taken notice.” 

“We’ve got a few leads,” All Might assured him, hoping to keep Thor’s temper from flaring again. “Can we count on your assistance in our search?” 

“I’ve already found him.” 

This was a new voice in the room, causing everyone to jump, and every gun to be pointed elsewhere. Loki had appeared in the shadows of the room; a much more subtle appearance than Thor’s booming thunderclaps and dramatic threats. He looked positively bored out of his mind. “I’m not sure what disappoints me more, brother; getting guns pointed at me by mortals again, or that you didn’t think to come to me first.” 

“You know this guy too?” Tsukauchi asked, exasperated as to how many people could burst into his office.

“My brother, Loki.” Thor grumbled. His face flushed a bit. “I... well, it hadn’t occurred to me to ask you when I got the news.” 

“That’s because your first course of action has always been to punch things,” Loki sneered, stopping to shake All Might’s hand. “I don’t believe we met - Loki, God of Mischief - I’ve always been a big fan.” 

“Really?” All Might asked, surprised.

“Not of the Heroics, just for how much you seem to irk my dear brother.” 

“LOKI!” Thor snapped. “You said you know where Midoriya is.” 

Loki rolled his eyes, but turned and waved his hand in the air to make a circle. The air rippled at his movements, and a hole seemed to open out of thin air. A vision appeared of Midoriya strapped to a chair. “A simple scrying spell,” the god drawled. “Adjusted slightly, we even get the outside of the building.” 

“Checks out, that’s one of their locations we’ve been staking out the last few weeks,” the detective nodded, checking the building with some of his notes. “Wouldn’t have been my first guess, but...”

Thor turned to leave but he was grabbed by All Might. “Wait! Before you go storming off, let’s think about this.”

“What is there to think about?!” Thor snapped, nostrils flaring.

“With all due respect, your Highness,” Tsukauchi replied, “We’ve been tracking the League of Villains ever since their break in at the school. I think your brother here confirmed Midoriya is no worse for wear, correct?”

Loki nodded. “No harm has fallen him.” 

“Right. If we play our cards right, we can take down the whole organization and get the kid back,” Tsukauchi advised. “And if we had you on our side, I think we’d all feel a bit more secure in these plans.”

Thor paused at the request. It WAS a completely logical request, but... “How much time are you looking for.”

“Two days, tops.” 

Thor narrowed his eyes. “You shall have your two days. But if any harm should fall upon Midoriya, I shall declare the wrath of the heavens upon you, so help me.” 

Thor stormed out, followed by his brother, slamming the door behind him. Once they were safely out of earshot, All Might turned to his friend. “What do you need me to do?” 

“Get a team of Pros together to get these Villains,” the detective commanded. “We’re going to get these sons of bitches.”   
\-----  
Principal Nezu was, in his opinion at least, a pro at press conferences.

Still, this was the first one he’d ever had to give for a student kidnapped by a villainous organization. They leaked a tape of their kidnapping, promising to get the powers of nature Midoriya possessed on their side, forcing the principal’s hand. 

A reporter stood up and asked him, “And what if the League of Villains succeeds in making such a powerful student a Villain? How will UA deal with that failure if Midoriya Izuku starts raining lightning down across Japan?” 

For once, the super-intelligent principal seemed at a loss for words, but Aizawa stood up instead. 

“With all due respect, sir,” Aizawa began, a look of deadly seriousness on his face. “Anyone who thinks Midoriya could be a villain, even with all the destructive power of his Quirk, has never spent more than five minutes with him. He lives and breaths to rescue the innocent. The League of Villains will undoubtedly fail, because Midoriya is a Hero, through and through.” 

The Principal breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Eraserhead,” he breathed, silently, and spoke up, “No further questions.” 

From the back of the room, Detective Tsukauchi grinned. That had gone perfectly.   
\-----

Bakugou opened his eyes to a sterile, white environment. “Gruuuuh...” 

“Baku-bro? GUYS, BAKU-BRO IS AWAKE!”

“...Shitty Hair, ‘zat you?” Bakugou grumbled, sitting up slowly and clutching his head. He blinked as the room came into focus, and he saw Kirishima, Mineta, and Kaminari in the room with him. 

“About time you came to,” Mineta scoffed, trying to hide the bags under his eyes.

“Yeah, Kirishima has been dragging us here for the last three days, saying you’d wake up soon,” Kaminari yawned. 

Bakugou rubbed his eyes, still coming around. “You fry your brain again? You just said I was out for three days.”

“Check the date, spiky,” Mineta said, showing the explosive boy his phone. “You HAVE been out for three days.”

“WHAT THE FUCK WHY DIDN’T ANYONE WAKE ME SOONER!” Bakugou screamed. 

“SHHH!” A nurse scolded him as she passed the room. “People are resting!” 

As she left Kaminari shrugged. “Dude, you’ve been passing in and out the whole time. Mumbling about, ‘that shitty Deku.’”

“Well yeah, I had a nightmare some shitty villains kidnapped him instead of me, thinking he had the power to destroy Japan,” Bakugou grunted. “Fucking crazy.” 

Kirishima, Kaminari, and Mineta all exchanged uncomfortable looks, not sure of how to break the news to him.  
\-----

Mirio Togata was confused that morning, and was just as confused as he walked into Principal Nezu’s office during break. Making the matter more confusing was the fact that both Sir Nighteye and All Might were there. 

“Sir, what a surprise!” Mirio beamed. “What are you guys doing here?”

Sir Nighteye grinned, rather creepily. Not his fault though, it was really the only way he knew _how_ to grin. “A day I’ve been preparing for is finally here, young Mirio!” 

“Have a seat,” All Might grinned, though his smile was a bit more... melancholic. “There are some things I need to discuss with you, in light of the recent events. It realized I needed to come to a decision.” 

Mirio Togata closed the door to the Principal’s office, not realizing that when he left... he’d be a brand new person.  
\-----

On the first floor of the hospital, Asui sat by herself in the waiting room. The rest of class 1-A had come to visit Yaoyorozu, who had gotten a concussion in the attack. She herself wanted to be alone; the class had been together near-constantly since the attack between questions from the authorities and visits to their classmates (though Bakugou’s friends splintered off).

She wouldn’t tell her classmates she hadn’t slept well in the last three days, though Iida and Uraraka could tell. They were the ones closest to her, after all. 

How could see? Every time she tried, all she saw was...

“Midoriya...” she ribbited to herself.

“You thinking of the missing beefcake too?” 

Asui jumped and looked at the end table next to her, surprised to see Setsuna’s disembodied head sitting there, looking up at her. 

“It’s pretty rude to eavesdrop, kero,” Asui deadpanned. 

“It’s a specialty of mine, with my Quirk,” Setsuna hummed, pleased with herself. But her expression turned serious within a blink. “Look... I can’t stop thinking about him either.” 

The words hit Asui like a punch in the abdomen, but Setsuna continued. “He was only still in those woods because I asked him to help me and my friends. If I had just let him get out, you’d still have your hunky classmate.” 

Tsuyu looked at her feet glumly. “Kero... that sounds like him, alright. Always thinking of others.” 

Tokage looked at her fellow green-haired UA student and gave her a sad grin. “You really like this guy, huh?”

Asui nodded, solemnly. “Yeah.”

“Oh wow, I was expecting the real flustered like, ‘Ah, no! What! No, it’s not like I like him or anything.’” Tokage blinked, surprised.

“I like to be pretty straightforward,” Tsuyu shrugged. 

“Well... hey, more power to you.” Setsuna said. “Look, I saw your classmate, Yaoyorozu. She had asked for me to go get you.” She looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping, “Between you and me, I think she might have a lead on where some of the villains are.” 

Asui’s eyes widened, and before Setsuna could get in another word, she had taken off for Momo’s room.  
\-----

“... so I had given one of the tracking devices to the police, but I made a second device for myself.” The class Vice President explained, sadly, to Uraraka, Asui, Iida, Todoroki, and Setsuna. The girl from class 1-B had tagged along for the guilt she was still having on getting Midoriya wrapped up in the entire situation. 

She showed her classmates the blinking device she had been keeping under her pillow. The coordinates bleeped steadily on the screen, showing an unmoving coordinate. 

“I can’t believe you and Awase got a tracking device on one of those monsters, “ Setsuna said with a low whistle. 

“Do you think they’d really be keeping Izuku in the same place as one of them?” Tsuyu asked.

“You guys saw the press conference the detective gave,” Iida replied, sternly. “They have no leads on the whereabouts of the League of Villains. It would be the only real starting point for the Pros and police to find Midoriya.”

“Right,” Momo agreed. “I just... I wanted you guys to know, so that you’d have hope the Heroes are going to rescue him soon.” 

Yaoyorozu’s door slid open with a loud thud, making them jump. No one was expecting Bakugou to limp in, bandages covering both arms, and Kirishima following him with his IV stand. 

“Or, Ponytail, we can just go get the Shitty Deku ourselves.” Bakugou grunted. 

Iida had to restrain himself from going berserk on his classmate, though his arms still flailed everywhere as he spoke. “Are you crazy Bakugou?! Not only is that illegal, it’s against all U.A. Policies! We could die, or worse, get expelled!”

“Not too mention, you tell Midoriya to die on a daily basis,” Todoroki added. “Why are you suddenly saying we should go rescue him?” 

“Well, for one; it’s not about rescuing him.” Bakugou scoffed. “The League of Villains captured him because they thought he was the most powerful student in Class 1-A, and that with all that angry hammer swinging he did in the Sports Festival, he could be a Villain. THAT’S STUPID! I’m the strongest! And I’m going to show them the mistake they made!” 

“Are you...” Asui narrowed her eyes, “Are you mad they kidnapped him and not you?” 

“They’d never be able to kidnap me, I’M TOO STRONG!” Bakugou snarled. “But I’m going to show them that I’m just as powerful as that shitty Deku! IT’S A MATTER OF PRIDE!”

“MANLY pride.” Kirishima added. 

“Please tell me you’re not going along with this,” Yaoyorozu asked Kirishima, flatly.

“Of course!” Kirishima beamed. “Otherwise I’d be leaving my bro behind.”

“Second,” Bakugou interjected, “If anyone else HAD gotten kidnapped, Midoriya would have flown out of this hospital with that stupid hammer already and tried to rescue them. Especially if it was one of you,” he motioned to Asui, Iida, Todoroki, and Uraraka. “You can’t tell me he wouldn’t.” 

“Yes, I admit that despite his grades, Midoriya would absolutely do something reckless and stupid to try and help others.” Iida reluctantly agreed. “That doesn’t mean WE should do the same -”

“I’m in.” Todoroki interrupted bluntly. 

“I JUST -” Iida blurted out, taking his glasses off and rubbing the bridge of his nose. He turned to Yaoyorozu, “As class representatives, we can’t just let them do this.” 

Momo rubbed her arm, nervously. “That.. I’m not sure. It doesn’t feel right to just sit here either.” 

“I’m in,” Setsuna shrugged. “If it gets bad, I’ll bail, but I feel like I owe the guy one.”

“I also don’t know if that’s what Deku would want,” Uraraka added, causing everyone to turn and look at her. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bakugou asked with a grunt.

“Midoriya would definitely rush in to save us,” Uraraka relented, “but would he want us to do the same thing? I think even in this situation, he’d prioritize keeping other people safe and not causing more casualties. What do you think, Tsuyu?” 

She, and the rest of the occupants of the room, turned towards Asui. Tsuyu looked to her feet, pondering the matter. 

“I know that Izuku would be doing whatever he could to rescue one of us, but we’re not Heroes.” She sighed. “If we start doing whatever we want, are we any better than Villains, kero?” 

Even her tone sounded unsure of the question.

Her question hung heavy over the atmosphere of the room, a reminder of the weight of what they were discussing. It was Bakugou who shrugged it off first. “Tch. Whatever, Frog Face. I am getting checked out of this shithole this evening. And when I leave, I’m heading to those coordinates. Any of you extras want to help, you can find me at the front of the hospital. Let’s go, Kirishima.” 

The blonde turned and left, but the redhead called after him, “Be right there, bro.” He turned back towards Asui, “Hey, Tsu, can I get a word in the hall?” 

Asui nodded, and followed the spiky-haired boy into the hallway. Once Kirishima had shut Momo’s door, she asked, “What’s up, kero?”

“Look, I respect your decision,” Kirishima started, “I know this plan of Bakugou’s is crazy. Part of why I’m going is to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed with those broken fingers. The other part is because Midoriya’s a good guy. But.. I mean, no offense, I’m not sure I buy what you’re saying.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Do you remember your fight with Bakugou at the Sports Festival?” Kirishima asked.

“Right up until he knocked me out,” Tsuyu deadpanned.

“R- uh... right,” Kirishima stammered, not realizing it might have been a touchy subject. “After that happened, before the match with Midoriya started, I saw Midoriya watching the whole thing... and I gotta say, that was the most pissed off I’d ever seen him.” 

Tsuyu’s cheeks tinged red, so Kirishima continued. “I also saw a bit of you guys helping each other in the Beast Forest at camp. I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but I just don’t want you to regret your decision.” 

Tsuyu looked to her feet. “That obvious, huh?” 

“Hey, I’m not trying to sit here and play matchmaker,” Kirishima joked. “I just... I think you mean a lot to him. And if you don’t go, me and Baku-bro will take care of it!”

He clapped Tsuyu on the shoulder, and took off after Bakugou. Asui turned back and looked at Yaorozu’s room, hearing Todoroki and Iida argue within. 

Had she made the right decision?


	26. Bakugou and Pals, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bakuogu's Group and the Pros move out to save Midoriya!

“All Might, just who is this homeless man you’ve drug off the streets?” Endeavor sneered. 

All Might and Detective Tsukauchi exchanged nervous glances, but Thor didn’t budge at the provocation. Indeed, the God of Thunder and his brother stayed in the corner of the room, discussing their plans in a foreign tongue. 

“I assure you, Endeavor, this man is here to provide assistance if needed,” All Might replied after a pause. “Now come on, you’re an alumni of UA, and this child is a friend of your boy; we should be focused on the task at hand.” 

Endeavor huffed to himself, not exactly thrilled to have to save the boy who defeated his son at the Sport’s Festival, but unwilling to let All Might and some blonde hobo take all the glory for taking down the League of Villains. “Fine then.”

All Might looked to his team of Pros and Police Force. “Everyone know their positions with the two locations?”

He was greeted with nods. 

“Alright. Let’s go get young Midoriya!”   
\-----

Bakugou hung up the phone with his mother, muttering, “Goddamn bitch,” under his breath after letting her know he wouldn’t be home until later because he had, “stuff,” to do. “Needs her fucking attitude checked,” he grumbled.

He stood outside the hospital, checking the time on his phone to see if it was time to go. 

“Hey, Baku-Bro!” A familiar voice called from behind him. 

“Figured you’d be here first, Shitty Hair,” Bakugou said, turning around and ignoring Kirishima’s prompt for a high five.

“Well, duh, I never left the hospital,” Kirishima replied, putting his hand down awkwardly. 

After a few minutes, two boys in hoodies walked by discreetly. Once in view, they pulled down their hood to reveal Iida and Todoroki. “Right where you said you’d be, Bakugou.” Iida said, curtly.

“The fuck you doing here, Four Eyes?” The blonde spat venomously. “Thought the class president wouldn’t be doing something so illegal?”

Iida scowled at Bakugou. “It’s precisely because I’m class president that I’m here. I have a responsibility to look after my classmates. That includes not only rescuing my friend, but also to keep an eye on you to make sure you DON’T do anything against the law.” 

“I don’t plan on it, if I can help it,” Bakugou replied. “Grab the shitty Deku and go. It’ll be easy if none of you extras drag me down.”

“If we were dragging you down, you wouldn’t have recruited anyone else in the first place,” Todoroki said with an exaggerated roll of the eyes. 

“He’s got you there,” came the voice of Setsuna as she approached from the opposite direction Iida. “Also, you guys are really loud. It’s not a stealth operation of blondie here is screaming.” 

Bakugou scoffed, but remained silent. After a few more minutes passed, he checked his phone once more and looked at who was with him; just the five he expected. “Alright, guess no one else is coming. Let’s get this over with...”

“Um! Guys, wait!” 

This time the voice came from the hospital. They turned to see Yaoyorozu herself rushing out the front door, bandage over her head the way Bakugou himself was still wrapped up around the arms. 

“I’d like to come as well,” she said, nervously. “I feel like I should have done more and -”

“I don’t give a shit what your reasons are, let’s just go,” grunted Bakugou, turning to leave.

“Jeez, pretty unmanly, bro,” Kirishima scolded. "Sorry, Momo..."

"It's okay," she replied, "I want to prove myself and help Midoriya. He'd do it for us."

Still, the six of them began to make their way towards the nearest rail station, when they were stopped yet again. 

“Wait up, kero!” 

“NOW WHAT?!” Bakugou yelled in frustration, making everyone jump as they turned to see Asui running towards them. 

“Just wait,” Asui croaked as she caught up to them, stooping over to catch her breath.

“You’re not here to turn us in or convince us to stop, are you?” Iida asked.

She straightened herself up and shook her head. “No, kero. I want to help.”   
\-----  
Midoriya sat, muscles aching and stiff from the chair he was chained up to. For the third time that hour, Shigaraki replayed his fight with Bakugou from the Sports Festival. Disturbingly, everytime he struck Bakugou on the video, Toga sighed happily. 

After the fight was over, Shigaraki turned and sat across from Izuku, slouching lazily across another chair. “You know what I love about that fight the most, Midoriya?” 

Midoriya glared. “I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyway.”

“HA! Got ‘em.” Twice laughed from the corner. 

Ignoring the jabs, Shigaraki continued. “It’s that anger. That... hatred you displayed against that loud-mouthed Heroic wannabe. All that hatred and all that destruction at your fingertips. With that... you could change an entire society.”

“I say thee nay,” Midoriya replied proudly. “I’m a Hero. I will protect society from people like you. Not change it FOR you.”

“But why?” Shigaraki asked, an earnest air to his voice. “Why protect a society that ridiculed you for YEARS for being Quirkless.” 

Izuku’s throat ran dry momentarily, “What?”

“We know all about how you grew up,” Shigaraki chuckled. “Diagnosed as Quirkless at age 4, bullied on the playground all up until a little more than a year ago... when you show up with a magic hammer and powers that could make even All Might jealous. Did you really think anyone wouldn’t connect the dots about you and the old God of Thunder from history?” 

Midoriya stayed silent, bravely maintaining a determined eye contact with his captor. 

“The world has not been kind do you, Midoriya Izuku,” Shigaraki continued. “Just as it has not been kind to us. Just like you being seen as undesirable by a society for being a Quirk, we’re all looked down upon... be it due to the functions of our Quirks or our appearance, or some other ridiculous perceived flaw. What’s the value in that sort of society? A society that breeds people like you and me daily?” 

“You can pull the, ‘we’re not so different,’ card on me all you want,” Midoriya replied, “but we’re fundamentally different. You can sit here and tell me society as a whole is broken, but I would never sit by and ignore someone who was in danger. I’m going to save people, and all you’re looking to do is kill anyone in your way. That puts us and our goals at odds, and that won’t change. Period.”

A heavy tension hung in the air as the rest of the League of Villains looked from Shigaraki to Midoriya. After a moment, Shigaraki laughed. “Well then, new God of Thunder, I suppose you’ll just have to take it up with my Sensei. Call him, Kurogiri.” 

Kurogiri, from the bar, adjusted the knobs on a video screen, until a shadow figure appeared on them. 

“Kurogiri?” The voice on the other end rasped.   
\-----  
The seven students of UA had arrived brightly-lit city area, and had disguised themselves at the behest of Yaoyorozu. Then, having followed the tracking device that she had produced, found themselves outside of a run down looking warehouse. 

“You sure this is the right place?” Todoroki asked, checking around the dim alleyway to make sure there was no one in earshot. 

Momo checked her device again. “Yes, though the signal hasn’t moved since I produced it. Is there anyway to check inside.”

“On it,” Setsuna replied, popping her eyes out of their sockets and floating them towards the skylights on top of the building.

“Me too!” Asui exclaimed, leaping onto the side of the wall, clinging to it, and climbing up. 

It was a rather awkward few moments as the other five students sat around, looking at the eyeless Setsuna as she shifted her weight from one leg to another. 

“Oh wow...” She frowned. “That’s... huh.” 

“Well, what the -” Bakugou began, voice growing, but Kirishima put his hand on his shoulder. The two made eye contact, and Kirishima shook his head, gently reminding his bro not to start screaming during a stealth mission. “...the fuck are you seeing?” 

“It’s... it’s a whole warehouse of those monster-looking guys. You know, those Nomus that attacked the USJ and the training camp.”

“A whole warehouse?” Iida repeated, alarmed. 

“Yes, did I stutter?” Setsuna replied, annoyed. “They’re just sitting in tanks. I can even see the little tracker Yaoyorozu put on one of them.” 

“Can you see Midoriya anywhere?” Momo asked. 

Asui had retreated back to the group. “No,” she croaked. “Just rows and rows of those tanks.”

“Oh shit! Guys, hide!” Setsuna cried out, her eyes zipping back to her and popping back into her eyes out of nowhere.

“Villains?” Todoroki asked.

“No, Mt. Lady!” Setsuna hissed. “Get behind a wall or something or we’re going to get busted!” 

The seven students scrambled behind the brick wall in the alley as Mt. Lady and Death Arms arrived at the building.  
\-----  
Midoriya squinted at the darkened silhouette on the screen, trying to make out the voice. 

“Sensei,” Shigaraki rasped, utterly joyed to be hearing from the man on the screen. “It’s him, Sensei.”

“Oh...” the man on the screen seemed almost surprised. “Yes, young Izuku...”

Izuku’s throat went dry. Something about this man’s voice sent shivers up his spine.

“So,” the Sensei said, “you’re the new God of Thunder... I never thought such an opportunity would come.” 

That was about as far as the man got, as the wall the television was mounted on imploded as All Might himself punched through the wall. 

“LACQUER PRISON!” Shouted Kamui Woods, next to All Might. Branches erupted from Kamui’s arms, wrapping up the League before any of them recovered from the surprise of a giant man destroying their wall. 

“Wood?” Dabi smirked. “Not much of a match for OOMPH!”

The oomph was a small, elderly man Deku had never met zooming at lightning speeds and kicking Dabi across the face. “I think that’s enough lip out of you sonny.” 

Midoriya was stunned, wishing he could pinch himself to make sure this wasn’t a dream he was having. But no, it seemed he had been saved after all. “A-All Might?!”

“Yes, Young Midoriya!” All Might crowed, walking over to his student. “There’s no need to worry about these evil doers anymore, FOR WE ARE HERE!”

Midoriya’s eyes scanned the room, seeing All Might, Endeavor, the elderly man, and Kamui Woods. From the multiple flashing blue and red lights he was seeing behind the destroyed wall, it seemed there was an abundance of police support backing them up as well. He could feel his eyes water.  
\-----  
“I don’t get it,” Kirishima hissed, “what are they doing?” He was standing on Bakugou and Iida’s shoulders, peering over the wall as Mt. Lady and Death Arms investigated the outside of the warehouse.

“I think the same thing we’re doing,” Setsuna said to the rest, her eyes hovering next to Kirishima’s. “Trying to see if Midoriya’s in there.”

As the two Pros circled the building, without warning, two flying Nomus burst out of the skylight windows, and began flying off towards the same spot. Mt. Lady ran towards them before she was radioed. Setsuna sent her ear over as close as she could without it being obvious.

“Midoriya’s at our location! Take yours down!” The voice on the radio said.

“You got it,” Death Arms confirmed. “Two of those things got away, alert whoever is in the area. We’ll knock this place over.”

He signaled something to Mt. Lady. She nodded, and found a truck to put on her foot like a shoe in order to demolish the building. 

Setsuna retracted her eyes and ear, and frowned to the other students. “Guys, bad news...”  
\-----

All Might surveyed the scene, the League of Villains all either grumbling miserably or unconscious, like Kurogiri and Dabi were. His triumphant smile gleamed; the plan had gone off without a hitch. 

“You must have been scared Young Midoriya.” All Might said, patting the boy on the shoulders gently., “But you’ve handled yourself admirably. You should be very proud of yourself. Now, let’s get you out of these restraints. Care to help?” 

Midoriya looked past All Might, realizing the question wasn’t meant for him. Behind the Symbol of Peace, Thor stood there in his, “Midgardian hoodie,” beaming at Midoriya. The two grinned at each other as Thor held up Mjolnir in his hands. 

“I’ve got something for you,” Thor said, proudly. 

All Might ripped one of the chains holding Midoriya down out of the ground, allowing the boy to straighten his back somewhat. But before he could smash the hand restraint, the elderly hero shouted, “On your toes, boy! Something is happening!” 

A red mist began to eek in through the hole in the wall. As it did, screams and gunfire began to erupt from the street below. 

“I’m on it,” Endeavor grunted, jumping out the side of the wall. 

The momentary distraction was all that was needed; the red mist poured into the nose of Kurogiri, and portals formed around the League of Villains, sucking them in. 

Midoriya’s eyes widened as one formed under him, and he fell through it staring into the shocked faces of All Might and Thor. 

A second later, he was toppling across the pavement, the wooden chair he was chained to smashing to pieces under him. Now, the only thing restraining him was the metal contraption keeping his hands from opening. 

The League of Villains stood up and all rushed past Midoriya, clamoring towards a figure that Deku could feel standing a few feet behind him. 

“Sensei!” Shigaraki cried, on the verge of tears. “You really came!” 

“Of course,” the raspy voice from the video answered. “I told you I’d always be there to watch out for you.” 

Struggling, Midoriya looked up from the ground at his surroundings; he was in the ruins of some smashed up warehouse. What had gone on?!

“HEY!” A familiar voice yelled. “STOP RIGHT THERE!”

Deku looked up, recognizing the booming voice as Mt. Lady herself. She reared back to punch the down at the League of Villains, but before she could, the raspy man’s fist exploded in size and stretched into the sky, uppercutting her. The ground shook as she crashed to the ground. 

“I’ve already taken care of Death Arms before you arrived,” the raspy man wheezed. “We should be... all alone until All Might arrives.” 

“Sh- um - shouldn’t we leave?” Magne asked, nervously. “That was a little close for comfort.”

From the ground, Midoriya saw his opening; a gap in the wall of the destroyed warehouse. Summoning all his might and courage, he placed the metal restraint firm against the concrete and pulled his knees up under him. In a swift movement, he pulled himself up to his feet and took off in a sprint towards freedom. 

He hadn’t gotten more than ten feet when vines wrapped around his ankles and pulled, sending him crashing to the ground again. He was dragged along the ground, and he could already tell he was being pulled in by this mysterious, “Sensei,” himself. 

From the ground, Midoriya turned himself around and looked up at the man, having to stop himself from gasping. 

The League flanked the sides of the rasping man, who had sustained such terrible injuries his face was almost unrecognizable. His eyes had been crushed, and there were no visible sockets or eyelids. His mouth, wrinkled and cracked, curled into a twisted smile as Midoriya looked over him. The contrast of his features to his neatly pressed suit made it all the more jarring.

“Hello Midoriya,” he rasped. His chapped lips curled into a hideous, yellow-toothed grin. “I’d like to discuss your powers. But oh, where are my manners.” He waved his hands to his sides, gesturing at the League of Villains. “I’m... All for One. Leader of the League. Now... let’s chat before the Heroes show up.”


	27. Bakugou and Pals: The Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midoriya comes face to face with All for One! So does Thor, Loki, and All Might.

“All for One...?” Midoriya parroted.

He wasn’t the only one looking on in confusion. Huddled beyond a dilapidated wall, Bakugou and his rescue team crouched, looking through a brick that had fallen at the scene.

“All for One?” Questioned Bakugou through grit teeth. “That’s...that’s the head honcho!” 

He leaned forward to attack, but both Iida and Kirishima, on either side of him, placed a hand on a chest to hold him back against the alley wall. He looked to both of them, each of them giving him a wide-eyed stare and shaking their heads vehemently. And as much as he wanted to explode at them in anger, he realized they were right. 

They needed a plan.

“We have to do something,” Tsuyu said, looking around for something, anything that could help them out. 

Back with the villains, All for One smiled almost affectionately down at the captive. “Why yes, Izuku. You’re an All Might fan, aren’t you? Tell you what, why don’t I tell you the story of how his Quirk came to be...”   
\-----  
From the other side of the lot, two other figures were watching the League of Villains. As All for One explained his ability to steal Quirks, and how he granted One for All to his Quirkless brother. Thor turned to Loki with quiet fury in his eyes. “You remember the plan?”

“I’ll just try to stay out of your way,” Loki replied, but there was a steely coldness that had replaced his usual dry wit. 

Thor reached a hand out and opened, summoning Mjolnir to it. “Aye, brother.”  
\-----  
“... and in my quest to become the greatest, there is one ability I’ve wanted to steal more than anything... something stronger than One for All,” All for One rasped. 

“I uh... think I see where this is going,” Izuku stammered out. 

“Well then... if you won’t join us nicely,” All for One gave him a sad smile, “I’ll do this the hard way...”

The leader of the League of Villains reached out and grabbed Midoriya by the forehead...

... and a few moments passed.

... and nothing happened. 

“Did... did it work, Sensei?” Shigaraki asked. 

All for One let go of Midoriya’s head wordlessly. The boy was sure nothing had changed at all; he could still feel the lightning in his veins that he had been storing quietly for the last two days. 

Suddenly, All for One began to chuckle. But it didn’t stop, slowly growing into a maddening cackle. “Oh, what clever jest is this, boy?!” Without warning, he backhanded Izuku and knocked him to the ground with enhanced strength that made even the other villains jump. “You think I’ve come this far just for you to elude me with clever japes?!” 

A problem came for the League, however, as Midoriya bounced along the ground and appeared to split into two separate beings.

“Wha-?!” Shigaraki gasped, before rounding on his team, “Twice, what did you do?!”

Twice jumped back, waving his arms frantically, “I swear boss, I haven’t made any copies all day!!!”

All for One’s head tilted from one Midoriya to another, surprised. Before he could make a decision, Dabi’s voice came from his left. “Uh... boss?” Everyone turned to see that behind him, tons of Midoriya copies were on the ground, getting up in various states of confusion. 

“What... on earth is this?” All for One asked in irritation. 

“MAINLY A DISTRACTION, YOU CUR!!!!” 

The League all turned back to see a giant blonde viking speeding towards them from the sky; Thor smashed Mjolnir in to the face of All for One, sending an explosion of lighting that sent the rest of the League of Villains flying across the lot. From the ground in front of them, all the fake duplicates of Midoriya vanished, and Loki rolled over to create a barrier that protected the two of them. 

“Loki, that was you?!” Midoriya gasped. 

“You should chalk up any deception to me, Izuku,” Loki grinned. He slid a knife down his sleeve and picked the lock on the metal contraption holding Midoriya’s arms together. 

The two stood up as the dust cleared from Thor’s attack. The King of Asgard immediately turned to them. “Are you alright, Izuku?” 

For the first time in days, Deku was able to give a sincere smile to his mentor as he stretched out his hands and fingers. “I’m just glad to see you guys.” 

The reunion, however, was interrupted as a slow clapping came from across the lot. The three Asgardians turned to see All for One, unburying himself from the rubble of the wall he was smacked through, and shambling towards them. 

“Thor, God of Thunder himself,” he laughed, talking as though he was greeting an old friend instead of someone who had just sent him flying multiple meters. “I had a suspicious you might get involved, but I didn’t dare myself to hope it.” 

Thor was taken aback. “What sorcery is this?! Your face should be a skidmark.” 

“No sorcery,” the villain laughed. “You yelling about your silly attack gave me the time to activate several Durability and Hardening Quirks, a Lightning Rod Quirk to absorb most of the lightning, and a Rubber Quirk to nullify it. Even still...” he paused to crick his neck, “you’re just as fearsome as all the textbooks say.” 

“I told you screaming before you hit things was a bad idea,” Loki breathed. 

Thor began spinning his hammer at his side. “Shut up and help me fight. Midoriya, get out of here.” 

“But I can help!” Midoriya insisted.

“I’m not losing you again!” Thor hissed, shoving Midoriya back with his free hand and stepping between him and the approaching All for One. “GO!”

Midoriya bit his lip, but turned and took off running as instructed. Not ten steps later, however, did another portal open up under him, and he fell through, getting spat out and stumbling onto the pavement a few feet away. 

“Don’t let him get away, Compress!” Kurogiri coughed, teleporting the rest of the League towards Midoriya. 

From all fours on the ground, Midoriya saw Mr. Compress - the same man who kidnapped him - speeding towards him with another device used to restrict his hands and arms. 

Something inside Midoriya snapped, and all the electricity he’d stored rocketed up his upper body, covering his pecks and arms. “I...”

He whipped himself up to his feet before Compress could activate his Quirk, and hit the villain with the Lightning Uppercut, “SAY THEE NAY!!!”

Midoriya jumped backwards, seeing blue flames screaming towards him, just licking the pavement he had just been.

“What’s that bullshit even mean?” Dabi sneered. 

He prepared another flame attack, but his confidence dwindled as suddenly thunder clapped overhead. He turned to see that as Thor and Loki battled All for One, the King of Asgard summoned a thunderstorm. Pouring rain followed, extinguishing Dabi’s attack. “Shit,” he muttered, turning back just in time to see Izuku plant his right fist between the villain’s eyes. 

Dabi was unconscious before he hit the ground. 

Midoriya whirled around, seeing himself surrounded by Compress (who had gotten back up), Toga, Shigaraki, Kurogiri, Magne, and Spinner. And behind them, Twice was conjuring as many copies of them all as he could. 

“Last warning,” Midoriya said through grit teeth. “Let me go and no one has to get hurt.” 

“Oh honey,” Magne scoffed. “There’s no scenario where you get away from us.” 

The lightning on Midoriya’s arms crackled. “You asked for it.”   
\-----  
“He can’t fight them by himself!” Todoroki whispered with his class mates. 

“Even if he can take them, one touch from the hand guy could vaporize him!” Kirishima agreed. 

Bakugou grinded his teeth together; with the rain, he could barely even use his explosions. “Shitty Deku, ruining his own rescue.”

“No, he’s not, kero,” Asui croaked. “I have a plan!”  
\-----

All for One’s arm exploded into a giant, hardened, mass of muscle and was thrust towards Thor in a punch. Thor smacked the monstrous fist with Mjolnir, and was shocked that the force of All for One’s blow pushed back, making him skid across the pavement. 

“Don’t you see, you alien fool,” the villain sneered. “No matter how strong you are, I can just up my own power with stolen Quirks.”

All for One prepared another powered up punch, but this time Thor beat him to it, throwing Mjolnir into the villain’s face. The hammer returned to the god, and he blasted All for One with lightning. The villain was sent flying back, and as he hit the ground, Loki was there to stab One for All through the chest with his scepter.

“Not too good at this villain-business, are you?” Loki quipped with disdain. 

The God of Mischief was shocked though, as the leader of the League grabbed his scepter and pulled it out of his chest with a menacing grin. “Oh, I think you’ll find the business has changed, God of Mischief.” 

All for One sprang to his feet, and throwing the scepter to the side with Loki still attached. He stared down Thor when another voice boomed out.

“FEAR NOT ASGARDIANS, HELP HAS ARRIVED!!!!”

All for One looked up as another blonde in blue and red came speeding towards. 

“FOR I AM HERE! DETROIT! SMAAAAAAAAASSSSSSHHH!” 

All for One raised his arms and hardened them as much as he could, absorbing the punch from All Might as the Number One Hero entered dynamically into the fight. 

“Ah yes, I’ve been expecting you, friend.” He chuckled.   
\-----  
Midoriya slugged his way through various clones of Spinner and Toga, avoiding Compress so he wouldn’t get shrunk again, and staying out of the line of Magne’s Quirk. 

_This isn’t going to work forever,_ he thought, feeling his breath get heavy. _And with me here, All Might and Thor are sure to hold back. I need a way out of this._

He looked around himself as the League evaluated their next move. He had an answer for all of their attacks, and they were at a stalemate. 

Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He glanced at it, and did a double take to see a disembodied hand sitting on it, with an ear floating nearby.

_Setsuna?!_

The hand pointed up towards the sky. 

“You want me to blast myself upwards?” 

The hand morphed into a thumbs up.

“Uh... okay.” 

As Dabi lunged for him, he slugged the burnt man across the face with an electrified hook, and jumped as high as he could with his Asgardian muscles. At the height of his jump, he used his hands to conjure an airblast at the ground, pushing himself upwards. 

As he did this, Yaoyorozu covered Bakugou with a thick tarp, and the boy exploded the wall they were all behind. Todoroki constructed an ice ramp after, and the students all huddled together on it. Momo conjured a shopping cart, which they clung to. Iida grabbed the handle, while Bakugou leaned over his shoulders from inside the cart to add to their flight power with blasts. Asui herself was grabbing Iida’s back, legs against the alley wall. 

Iida activated his Recipro Boost as Asui pushed against the wall with her power, Quirk-enhanced frog legs. They went zooming over the air, right above Midoriya’s fight with the League.

As Midoriya reached the climax of his wind-burst jump, Asui stretched her tongue down to him and wrapped it around his waist, just as she had done during the USJ incident. 

As she pulled Midoriya up to the speeding shopping cart, a feeling of relief hit them.

“BAKUGOU NOW!” Kirishima yelled.

“GGGGRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Bakugou complied, fighting past the rain to produce the biggest explosions he could, propelling the getaway shopping cart.

“Wait, what the fuck is that?!” Twice cried from the ground. 

“Magne, you have to launch Compress!” Shigaraki screamed, practically pulling his own hair out. 

“R-right!” Magne agreed, and as Compress ran over to her, they took aim for the odd contraption of students flying through the air.

Even All Might, Thor, Loki, and All for One paused to look overhead. 

This was good though, as Thor was able to see Compress be shot through the air towards them, and he threw Mjolnir right into the villain’s stomach. The students all whooped and cheered as their getaway was successful. 

In the split second Thor had aided his young ward, All for One activated a Speed Boosting Quirk, grabbed the God by the face, and used enhanced strength to slam the blonde to the ground. 

“Very well,” All for One seethed. “If I can’t take the powers of the God of Thunder from Midoriya, then the original WILL HAVE TO DO!” 

He again tried to sap Thor’s abilities...

... and nothing happened. 

“WHAT?!”

From the ground, Thor smirked, and lifted his hand. Mjolnir flew to it, smashing All for One in the back of the head. Thor sprang to his feet. “You foolish, mortal, cur.”

The words were not Thor’s normal booming battle voice, or jovial taunts. The words were cold as winter’s wind.

As All for One stumbled to his feet, he was met with an uppercut from All Might. “Still trying to take powers to stop me, I see.”

Loki, however, recognized the tone his brother had taken, and decided to back off. 

With All for One reeling, Thor threw Mjolnir at him. The villain ducked, but Thor closed his fist. He will Mjolnir to curve back and strike the villain in the knee, knocking him on his back. He then willed the hammer to slam down and pin All for One to the pavement. “You dare to assume the powers of a god can be merely stolen?!” 

As he wheezed from under the weight of Mjolnir, he gave a bitter laugh. “You’re no god, Asgardian. You’re just an alien with more Quirks than a human.” 

Thor’s eyes sparked blue with outrage. “Aye. If that’s what you truly believe, take your arrogance to a watery grave.” 

All Might looked to Thor incredulously. “Wait, what are you - ?!”

That was as much as the Symbol of Peace was able to get out before harsh winds began blowing him back. Even with his enhanced strength, All Might was taken by surprise as a hurricane seemed to form around Thor and All for One. Loki teleported next to him and moved the two of them several yards away as a torrential downpour ensued. 

“Loki, what is he doing?!” All Might cried. 

“Thor is quick to fight, but he usually prefers to swing something around and do the beating himself. Unfortunately, this All for One pushed him a bit past that...” Loki explained. 

“What... what’s past the usual beating?” All Might asked. 

“Well, he’s the God of Thunder, and the ruler of Asgard. With such, the power of nature itself is at his fingertips. I believe he’s going to drop every torrential storm on All for One to finish him off for good.” Loki said,squirming slightly. 

“He’ll level the whole city!” 

“Yes, well, my dear brother doesn’t always think things through.”  
\------

At the other side of the fight, Shigaraki Tomura watched, helplessly. “We... we have to do something to save Sensei!” He cried to the rest of the League

He went to push his way through the winds towards the fight, but a nearby tree had been uprooted and just barely missed taking the villain’s head. Kurogiri had to reach forward and pull the teen back. 

“Young master, I don’t think the Asgardian will let us get close!” 

“Your job is to get anywhere!” Shigaraki shouted, enraged. “Get me to Sensei!”

Kurogiri paused, but opened a portal, allowing the two of them to get into the vortex Thor had created. 

Shigaraki wasted no time charging at the god, but all Thor had to do was glance at the teen for a bolt of lightning to blast the Decay user out of the wind tunnel. 

All for One choked, barely able to breathe in the hurricane winds and rain pounding against his face. “Get - get - get HIM OUT OF HERE!” 

“S-sure thing, boss,” Kurogiri said, shakily. He opened vortexes all over the destroyed warehouse, scooping up the members of the League, Shigaraki included, and whisking them as far away as he could. 

All for One watched him vanish, gasping. “Such power... I could do... so much with this power if you gave it to me.” 

Thor’s eyes glowed angrily. “You arrogant fool. Don’t you see? This is not a superpower or Quirk to just give and take.”

Lightning crashed from the sky, striking Mjolnir and electrifying All for One. Even with all the Rubberifying Quirks he could muster, he screamed in pain at the sheer force of nature’s might.

“The power of the God of Thunder is a divine right, bestowed by the All-Father. AND YOU. ARE. NOT. WORTHY!” 

At the words, Thor opened his arms to allow the rain of the heavens to swallow up All for One for good. But instead, All Might had made a might leap over and into the wind vortex, and came crashing down towards them. 

“THAT’S ENOUGH THOR! I’LL TAKE IT FROM HERE!” 

Thor looked up at All Might careening towards them. “NAY! I will teach this creature most foul a lesson!” 

“No, Thor!” All Might reared back his fist. “Midoriya is free. Go to him! He needs you! And besides...”

All Might put as much power into his fists as he could. It was different, though. Having just passed One for All on to Mirio, he knew he’d have less power in his attacks, but he didn’t think it would be this bad. Still, he pushed through it. If he let Thor keep this up, the whole city could suffer damage. 

“... this IS MY ARCHFIEND!” All Might finished. 

Thor paused, remembering his own rivalries. Begrudgingly, he stepped back, allowing the winds to die down, and the rain to subside. “... aye. Hit him good”

“I WILL!” All Might grinned, “I’LL ENJOY THIS! UNITED... STATES... OF... SMASH!!!!!” 

All Might hit his biggest punch on All for One, who was still pinned under Mjolnir and reeling from being nearly drowned. All for One’s facial muscles and bones shattered under the impact.   
\-----  
When Midoriya and the rest of the UA students had landed, they needed to blend in with a crowd so as not to raise suspicion. But when they did, their attention had been drawn to a jumbo news screen, broadcasting the fight between All for One, Thor, and All Might. 

And while everyone was in shock and awe at the reemergence of Thor after centuries of just being a historical figure, Midoriya saw, for the first time in his whole relationship with the god, just what he had to live up to. 

His eyes watered, but he smiled.

Midoriya was free now. And his goals had never been more clear to him than they were now.


	28. Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With All for One defeated and Midoriya safely home, everyone catches their breath.

The aftermath of All for One’s defeat seemed to happen in a blur; the students of UA retreated to a subway and made their way back to Midoriya’s hometown. None of them really said anything, reeling from the battle they had seen, and the escape they had managed to pull off. 

The only thing Midoriya remembered clearly was the way Asui held his hand the entire time on the train. While urban subways were always incredibly crowded, there was something to be savored in her warms as her shoulder squeezed against his on the jam-packed car.

“Was that... Thor?” She asked, quietly. 

Midoriya nodded to her. “Yeah... he came for me.”

She gave him a small grin. “I knew I was right to believe you.”

He smiled back to her. “I’m glad you did... " He paused, something else they had talked about before coming to mind. "Hey, remember when I said you’ve gotten really good at saving me?”

She nodded.

“You’ve definitely gotten better.”

“Get a room,” Bakugou grunted, turning away from them.   
\-----

“Mom! I c-can’t use the b-b-bathroom if you don’t let go of me,” Izuku laughed through tears. 

It hadn’t been surprising to Izuku or Thor that Inko latched onto the two of them the second they walked back to the door of her apartment. The group hug was rather damp as she sobbed over them, but neither Thor or Izuku minded. Indeed, they hugged her back, just happy that the three of them were together again. 

After some convincing, Midoriya was able to pry himself away from his mom to relieve himself. _Who would have thought modern plumbing would seem like such a luxury after a few days of peeing in a bucket?_ He thought to himself. 

The second he was back in his living room, he was bombarded by questions from his mom.

“Do you need to see the doctor?”  
“Did they hurt you?”   
“Are you hungry?” 

The last one came as a relief. “I’m starving, mom,” Midoriya smiled. “Can we eat?” 

Inko took off for the kitchen, fire in her eyes to get her son some real damn food after a kidnapping. Midoriya breathed a sigh of relief to sink onto the family’s couch. After a moment, he looked up to Thor.

“Hey, where was Valkyrie during the whole thing? She doesn’t seem like someone to miss a chance for a scrap.” He asked.

“She certainly isn’t,” Thor chuckled, “Unfortunately, on the off chance something were to happen to me, she had to be ready to assume the throne in Asgard. She was... less than thrilled.” He handed Mjolnir over to Midoriya. “This is yours, by the way. I hope a situation doesn't arise when I need to take it again.” 

Midorya’s smile stayed on his face, but turned a bit more melancholy as he took the weapon. “Thank... but man, I’m not nearly as good with this as you are. The way you summoned that hurricane out of nowhere...” 

Thor sat next to the boy and clapped him on the back. “In time, lad. You’re barely a year into your training, and you’ve honed abilities with and without the hammer faster than anyone would expect a Midgardian.”

“Thanks, Thor.” 

The two jumped as a pounding came from the door. 

“Can one of you two get that?” Inko called from the kitchen, frying up a feast of feasts. It already was smelling delicious. 

Thor obliged, walking over to the door. Upon opening it, he was practically blinded by the flashing of cameras. 

“ARE YOU REALLY THE GOD OF THUNDER?!”   
“HOW DID YOU LIVE FOR SO LONG?!”  
“WHAT’S YOUR SHAMPOO REGIMEN FOR THIS GORGEOUS HAIR?!”  
“Are you and Midoriya’s mom dating?! Is he your love child?”

Midoriya was almost sure that last one sounded like Todoroki. But before he could check, Thor slammed the door shut and locked it. “Damned leeches,” Thor grumbled, “I liked it better when the world thought I was dead.” 

“It’s a historic moment though,” Deku replied, smiling at the Asgardian. “You just being alive all this time settles a number of historical debates about the legitimacy of your godhood.”

“Yes, well, they could have all just minded their business,” Thor rolled his eyes. “But it looks like your link to me has been revealed to the world. You’ll be getting just as much as this as well.”

“Not if he quits the Hero Course,” Inko interjected, entering the room to set the table. “Which he should. I’d like you to.” 

“WHAT?!” Thor and Midoriya yelled out in unison. 

“Mom, you can’t do that!” Izuku yelled, springing to his feet.

“I can and I will!” Inko snapped. “I just got you back from the biggest group of Villains Japan has seen in a long time. From a school training camp! You want me to send you back to that school? A school where you aren’t safe?!” 

“Mom this is all I’ve wanted my entire life!” Deku argued. “I’ll never give up being a hero!”

Thor stepped forward before the mother could respond. “It’s not that simple, Ms. Midoriya -”

“Don’t you Ms. Midoriya me!” She yelled, jabbing the god in the chest with a finger. “Ever since you came around, my boy’s been coming home, cut, bruised, and burnt!” 

“To train him.” Thor answered, calmly.

“He doesn’t need training if he’s not going to be a Hero -”

“He’s going to be a king.” 

Both Midoriya’s stopped and turned to Thor, jaws dropped.

“Wait... king?” Inko asked, softly.

Thor nodded. “Midoriya being the new God of Thunder is not just about fancy powers and a hammer. He is my chosen successor. One day, he will sit on the throne of Asgard to keep watch over the Nine Realms.”

Midoriya blinked at the viking a few times before he looked down at Mjolnir. “That... that was decided when I picked up Mjolnir?” 

Thor nodded again. “Aye.” 

“This doesn’t make sense,” Inko said, emotion flaring back up again. “That should go to an heir of yours -”

“No,” Thor shook his head. “That sort of monarchy has lead to constant warring in Asgard and the Nine Realms for generations. Asgardians and Midgardians share certain common traits, one of which is foolish pride. Loki and I decided, long ago, that we would train a successor based on worthiness.” 

“Wow...” Midoriya muttered, “I um...I don’t know if I’d be cut out for being a ruler.” 

“I doubted my abilities too, lad. Until it was my time, I lived on Midgard for centuries, protecting its people. It will always be a home to me. But it made me the man I am today, and a ruler fit for the Realms. That’s why I want you to be a Hero.” He turned to Inko. “And why I will do everything I can do raise this boy, with you, to keep him safe, and turn him into a leader. Please.” He kneeled before her. “Allow me to humbly throw myself at your mercy. I shall not let your boy come to harm again.”

Inko turned bright red, and after a pause, hugged the god. 

“I uh... I’ll let you to have a moment,” Izuku gagged, standing up and retreating to his bedroom; he didn’t want to see anything too mushy between his mom and mentor.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to, but Inko dropped the, “drop out of the Hero course,” mindset soon after.  
\-----  
About a week later, the Midoriya’s were surprised to hear that All Might and Eraserhead would be making visits to students to discuss the upcoming term at UA. More surprising, was that they were turning some of the grounds into dorms. 

“The campus itself is the most secure part of the country,” Aizawa explained. “Considering the actions of the League, this will allow us to ensure the safety of all UA students.”

The two Pros braced themselves; they were expecting the most push back from Midoriya’s mother after everything that had happened. 

“Oh dear,” Inko sighed. “Well... I don’t like it, but can he come visit me on the weekends?”

“What? Oh... yeah, of course.” Aizawa assured her, a bit taken aback. “He just has to let us know.”

“Alright. When will they be moving in? I’ll have Thor help him.” She sighed. 

“Speaking of...” Aizawa turned towards Izuku. “Can you summon your hammer for me?”

“Huh? Sure.” Izuku replied, summoning Mjolnir. “Like that?”

Aizawa nodded. “Yes. I was using my Quirk on you... notice anything different?”

“Oh... um yeah, I guess your Quirk doesn’t work on me anymore.” Midoriya realized.

“I don’t think it was every supposed to work on you,” Aizawa theorized. “If you really are inheritor of some alien abilities, whatever stopped you during the Quirk test at the beginning of the year must have been mental.” 

“Oh... that probably explains what happened with All for One.” Izuku thought, rubbing the back of his head.

“What do you mean?” All Might asked. 

“Before Thor and you all showed up,” Midoriya explained, “All for One tried to steal my Quirk - er well, whatever you want to call it. But he couldn’t.” 

“Interesting...” Aizawa rubbed his chin. “There’s a lot we don’t know about your abilities Midoriya. Either way... now that we know, I’m going to push you to your absolute limit to hone them. Understood?”

Deku beamed back at him. “Y-yes sir!” 

A small grin spread across Eraserhead's face. "Wonderful..."  
\-----

Later that evening, Midoriya sparred with Thor and Valkyrie. He trained both with Mjolnir, and with his electrified fists the way he had fought with the League. While it was a viable form of combat in a pinch, he found that without the adrenaline of being held hostage, it drained him of energy fairly quickly. 

“Glad to see you didn’t get too rusty after being kept to a chair for so long,” Valkyrie chided him playfully, handing him some water. 

“C-can’t get rusty when fighting you,” Deku panted, shaking his hands out. 

“So you’ll be living at the school now?” Thor asked. “Are you sure you’ll be able to keep Kachow in line?” 

“I think so,” Midoriya replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “To be honest I haven’t really talked to him after what happened. It’s just... kind of hard to believe he’d organize a rescue squad for me.”

“Well,” Thor clapped a hand on the boy’s shoulder, “like I said, your situation with him reminds me a lot of myself and Loki. It won’t always make sense. Maybe you should try and talk to him about it. He doesn’t seem like he’s too good with words.” 

Deku snickered. “N-no, I can’t say he is.” 

“And if all else fails, just whack him with Mjolnir again.”

“I’ll uh... try not to let it get to that. Thanks, Thor.”   
\-----

Heeding the advice of his mentor, the next afternoon, Midoriya made his way across town to the residence of the Bakugou’s. Taking a deep breath, he knocked at the door. A few minutes later, his mother Mitsuki opened the door. 

“Oh!” She gave him a grin. “Inko’s boy! How have you been? I was so glad to hear you were alright.” 

Midoriya held in a laugh; he’d been filled in by Thor how... vocal Bakugou’s mother had been during the Sports Festival. But he knew her competitive streak was as bad as her son’s. She’d otherwise always been very kind to him growing up. “Thanks, Mrs. Bakugou. I-is Kacchan around?”

Her expression dropped considerably. “That troublemaker is still grounded. Eraserhead came around, saying he almost expelled the whole class for what they did. All Might had to really convince him otherwise.” 

Izuku’s eyes widened. “H-he did?” 

“Not you of course.” Mitsuki smiled to him, warmly. “You were the victim of the whole thing. But those kids are lucky they weren’t killed. Hell, I almost killed Katsuki when he got home.” 

Izuku could feel sweat forming on his forehead; Bakugou Mitsuki always had an explosive temper that only really seemed to come out around her son. “I-I wanted to talk to him about that whole thing. Really quick.” 

Mitsuki pondered this briefly. “Well... since the whole thing was about you, I can give you a few minutes. Otherwise you’ll have to wait for the school year; he’s grounded the rest of the summer. That work?” 

Midoriya bowed. “Thank you.” 

He jumped as Bakugou’s mother turned and screamed, “HEY SHITTY TROUBLEMAKER, THE MIDORIYA BOY WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!” 

“I THOUGHT YOU SAID I WAS GROUNDED YOU OLD HAG!” 

Midoriya was amazed; Bakugou’s room was on the top floor, but it sounded like he was standing only a few feet away. 

“YOU’VE GOT TEN MINUTES YOU DELINQUENT!” Mitsuki screamed back. She turned back to Izuku. “Tell your mother hi, for me will you sweetie?” She eyed him up and down, making Midoriya squirmed a bit as her gaze paused on his arms. “Feel free to come back whenever.”

_IS SHE FLIRTING WITH ME?!_ Izuku internally freaked out, keeping a calm demeanor. “S-sure thing.”

Mitsuki retreated, and was soon replaced by Katsuki. Ever so eloquent, Bakugou stepped out of the door and closed it behind. “What?” 

Figuring that was about as much of a, “hello,” as he was going to get, Midoriya gave him a weak smile. “I um... I just... uh, just wanted to thank you for what you did.” 

Deku could almost see the wheels clicking and turning behind Bakugou’s face. The blonde had, apparently, not expected Midoriya to approach him and thank him for his efforts, and was trying to process how to respond. Izuku could almost swear he saw smoke coming from Katsuki’s ears before he finally get the reply, “I mean, it’s not like I did this for you. The League made a mistake thinking you were the strongest person in class, so I did this to teach them a lesson not to underestimate me. I’m going to be the number one Hero, whether they like it or not.” 

Midoriya couldn’t help but let his smile grow into a full-fledged one; that was the most Bakugou-esque answer he could have gotten, and he had to hold in a laugh. “Well, either way... you and everyone else really helped me out. And I appreciate it.” 

Bakugou averted his eyes. “Yeah well... whatever. Don’t go getting yourself kidnapped again.”

The green-haired boy laughed. “I won’t. Promise. I’m sorry you got grounded for it.”

“That’s between me and the hag,” Bakugou grunted. “I don’t need your pity. Just make sure you thank Four Eyes and the others. They came up with the plan.”

Midoriya bowed. “I will. I’ll see you back when we move into the dorms.” 

Awkwardly, Midoriya walked away. As he got to the end of the walkway, Bakugou called out to him. “OI! DEKU!”

Midoriya turned. “Yeah?” 

“WE’RE EVEN NOW!” Bakugou yelled. “SO DON’T THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN ME JUST BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT SLUDGE ASSHOLE! NEXT TIME WE HAVE A MATCH, I’M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!”

Midoriya grinned. “JUST YOU GO AHEAD AND TRY!” He held Mjolnir above his head triumphantly.

The yelling prompted Mitsuki to yell from inside the house, “GET BACK TO YOUR DAMN ROOM!” 

“SHUT UP, MOM!” He turned and pointed towards Midoriya. “AND FOR FUCK SAKE, GO ON A DATE WITH THE FUCKING FROG! EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GUYS GOT THE HOTS FOR EACH OTHER! IT’S ANNOYING!” 

Midoriya turned bright red and turned to leave. “R-right.” 

“YOU BETTER FUCKING TEXT HER WHEN YOU GET HOME!” 

_Why is he matchmaking for me?!_ “Wh-whatever you say, Kachow.” Midoriya replied, running back towards his house. 

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys look, I developed Bakugou's character :D


	29. The Absorbing Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With weeks of summer vacation left, Midoriya looks forward to some normal teenage activities.
> 
> But not everyone feels the same.

Having finished his conversation with Bakugou, and taking the time to call Iida, Kirishima, Setunsa, Yaoyorozu, and Torodoki, Midoriya Izuku sat with his finger hovering over the call button Tsuyu. He stared at it, throat dry.

He stared.

And stared.

And... stared.

Sighing, he switched over to text messages. He didn’t want to risk his stuttering acting up. 

“Hey,” he typed out, reading aloud to make sure the words sounded okay, “we didn’t get a chance to talk much after what happened. I heard about what happened with Aizawa, and...”

He paused, rubbing his chin. Finally, he figured out where to go with this. “...I want to make it up to you. Are you free tomorrow night? I figured I could take us to get some ice cream, maybe go to an arcade or something.” 

It took him an entire minute of re-reading the text before he could muster the courage to hit send, and then he threw his phone on to his bed like it was haunted. “Holy crap, did I just ask a girl out?!” He covered his mouth with his hands and tried to contain himself, lest he began to hyperventilate. 

The following two minutes that went by before he got a response seemed to crawl forward at a snails pace, feeling like hours before his phone lit up and buzzed faintly. 

He raised the phone to his face, nervously, and opened the message.

“You don’t have to make anything up to me, but that sounds like fun :) when and where were you thinking?”

He let out a loud cheer and jumped with his back onto his bed; nothing could bring him down right now.  
\-----

All for One sat, bound to his chair in Tartarus, as he was condemned to do for the rest of his days. Despite his conversation with All Might just the day before, he was sure he would not get any normal visitors, nor did he expect them. 

Yet, he was not surprised when the projection of a tall woman in a black, horned helmet, appeared before him.

“They’ll see you,” he smiled. 

“They shall not see me if I do not wish to be seen,” the woman replied. “No mortal has seen Hela, Goddess of Death, and lived to tell the tale.” 

“Hmm,” All for One hummed, not all that impressed. “Now that I’ve met a few of you, you Asgardians like to do that? Really like to play up the titles.” 

Hela’s lip curled into a twisted smile. Well, the right side of it did; as the centuries waned on, it was impossible for her astral projections to reveal anything other than her natural form as the Goddess of Death. Her right side, a living, nigh-invulnerable Asgardian-Frost Giant. Her left side, a rotting corpse as a reflection of her duties at managing the souls of the dead. “And what title would we grant you, mortal? Former leader to a group of squabbling children? Failed ruler of the Japanese underground?” 

“You wound me,” All for One said, dryly. “I take it you aren’t here to free me.”

“Free you? Why?” Hela laughed. “You have failed me.” 

“And how was I to succeed?” All for One questioned, voice turning serious. He did not turn to look at her, lest the turrets pick up his hostile movement and fill him with lead. “You told me of the powers of the God of Thunder, told me where to look for his successor. But those powers can not be stolen. You set me up for failure.” 

Hela laughed again, this time her voice full of scorn. “You were a pawn, mortal. Your success or failure matters not to me. I will extend my rule from Hel and Niffleheim, to Asgard, Midgard, and Valhalla. You’re a failed experiment. I am merely here to terminate our relationship.”

This time, it was All for One who chuckled. “You’ll be back.” 

“What?” 

“How long have you been trying to usurp Thor’s throne?” All for One laughed. “We have only known of him for a few measly hundred years here, but how long have you been at it? Centuries? Millennia?” He grinned with his yellowing, rotten teeth. “You don’t have what it takes to get rid of him. That’s why you’ll come back to me. Only I can amass the right powers to rid you of Thor.” 

“You couldn’t even get rid of the boy.” Hela scowled. “You hold on to that pride, Midgardian. For when your time is up, I’ll see you in the Underworld.” 

She vanished, and All for One just chuckled. “I have my reasons for the boy. You’ll see, Hela. You’ll see.” 

While this happened, A security guard watched All for One talking to himself from a camera, and turned to the guard next to tim. “What do you think he’s talking to himself about?”

The other guard shrugged.”Fuck if I know.”   
\-----

With two weeks left in his summer vacation, Midoriya taken to sleeping in. This was under no means unusual; sleeping in for him was no later than ten-thirty in the morning anyway, for he was an early riser most of the time. 

Today was different though; he had already risen, brushed his teeth, eaten breakfast, and showered. He wasn’t meeting Asui until later that night and the time seemed to tick on slower than usual as he waited for the morning to end. With no alternatives, he turned to his summer homework to pass the time. 

As he continued his studies, across town, a petty thief was in an alleyway, getting ready to pull the familiar ski mask over his head, and hold up the corner store with his pistol. This man was a foreigner in the land, hoping to make it big in Japan with his Support Inventions. Unfortunately, his ideas were too behind the times, too old-fashioned for the ever changing market.

Even his robberies were unsuccessful; Conner Creed was a Quirkless man, among the other misfortunes in his life. And in a world where shop-owners could conjure needles from their fingers, the police could sniff out the lead in his gun from miles away, or a Hero could literally pop out of the shadows, this was just another disadvantage. 

His hands shook; either he pulled this one off and kept his shithole apartment for another month, or he was going to be behind bars. Either way, it didn’t seem like he had much to lose.

“Poor man.” 

Conner jumped as a beautiful woman with a horned helmet walked out of the brick wall of the alleyway in front of him.

“S-stay back!” He threatened, pointing the barrel of his gun at him.

She just shook her head, and tut-tutted at him. Hela always loved it when Midgardians threatened her with guns. “Now now... I’m not here to stop you or dissuade you. I come to offer you... assistance.” She gestured towards the store. “Wouldn’t you like to do better than this?”

He followed her gaze, and looked back towards Hela, nodding slowly. After all... he didn’t have anything to lose.  
\-----

Inko was beside herself in tears. “I can’t believe my baby is so grown up!” 

Izuku’s face burned bright red. “M-mom, we’re just getting ice cream and going to the arcade.”

“Aye,” Thor commended from the couch. “A fine date of the youths. The Man of Spiders would do that from time to time. For someone so unfortunate, he did well with the ladies.”

For once, Deku wished his mentor wasn’t here for guidance. “O-okay, I’m going guys.”

“Be home by eleven!” Inko cried. 

“Eleven-ish,” Thor added with a wink.

Midoriya cringed; those two were amazingly embarrassing. He breathed a sigh of relief as he closed the apartment door behind him, but the feeling was soon replaced by perhaps one of the most nerve-wracking experience of someone’s life: their first date. Not just running errands like last time: an actual, honest to goodness date. 

“What if I run out of things to talk about?” Deku mumbled aloud as he got in the elevator. “Or what if I talk over her too much? Should I talk about Pros? No, then I’ll mumble too much and she’ll get creeped out. But what if I sweat too much? What if I bore her -”

The line of self-questioning continued as he left his building and made his way to the train. Of course, the poor boy might have felt better knowing Asui was going the same thing as she made her way to the arcade. 

What was less fortunate, was that a few blocks away, Hela had lead Conner to closed shop on a less-than-busy street. “So... what are you going to do to me?” The man asked.

“I’m going to give you a... Quirk. It will allow you to even the playing field with the awful hand life has dealt you. Now...” She said, her eyes flashing red, and looking to a cinderblock on the ground. “Grab the brick.”

Conner did as he was told. As he touched the cold, gray brick, his hands began to change color and harden, becoming made of the same material. “WHA - WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

“Calm yourself, Conner. You can absorb the properties of whatever you touch.” Hela explained. 

The cold, gray stone spread up Conner’s arms until it overtook his whole body. “How... How do I change it back?” 

“It will change back after a few hours of not using your abilities, I assure you,” Hela grinned. “However, as thanks for giving you such power... I get to pick your first target.” 

Conner grunted. “Figures. Ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Alright. Where am I knocking over first?”  
\-----

“When I see her, tell her she looks nice. When I see her, tell her she looks nice.” Midoriya repeated to himself over and over. He looked down at his right hand. He had left Mjolnir at home; he hadn’t thought he’d need it, and it could be summoned at any point. Still, he had kept it with him after the kidnapping. It made him feel more confident, and he could really use that right now, as the arcade came in to view. “When I see her, tell her she looks nice...”

“What if I don’t like nice, kero?” 

Midoriya jumped a few feet in there, throwing his arms across his face defensively. He whipped around to see Asui right behind him, grinning slightly. “Sorry, I just came around the corner and saw you. I couldn’t resist.” Her face fell, as if realizing a massive error. “O-oh, was that rude of me? I hope that didn’t remind you of... Sorry, I wasn’t thinking -”

“It’s okay,” Izuku assured her. “I’ve had a few rough nights... but I think being able to punch out a lot of the Villains before you guys rescued me helped me work through a lot of that.”

“Alright.” Tsuyu gave him a small smile. “I’d feel pretty bad to ruin tonight before it started by traumatizing you.”

Midoriya gave a small laugh of relief; Tsuyu always had a relaxing aura around her, with the way she spoke and how she carried herself. But the fact that she was nervous about tonight made him feel a lot better. “B-by the way uh... you DO look great.” 

“Thanks,” she replied, blushing a bit. 

Together, the two walked in to the arcade, and Midoriya got them some cards with credits on them. The neon lights of the arcade cabinets and ticket games lit up their faces. Deku grinned. “I haven’t been to one of these in awhile. What do you want to play first?” 

“Let’s do that one, kero!” Tsuyu replied, excitedly. She grabbed Deku’s hand, making his heart hammer in his chest, and dragged him over to where a game was set up. 

It was an arcade version of beer pong; ten red cups were set up, though the bottoms emptied back down into the machine. “I remember playing this one awhile ago,” Asui said. “I’ll warn you though; I’m pretty good.” 

She wasn’t wrong; she sunk plenty of her shots, while Midoriya... did not. It turns out, that while his body had adjusted to his new physique and muscles, something that required such finesse was a bit more tricky. “G-guess you were right,” he laughed, “good match.” 

Tsuyu beamed at him, happily. “I’ll let you pick the next one.” 

His eyes shifted over to the Pro Hero fighting game, Street Mortal Caliber. “How about that one? I can’t believe they still have it, that one was my favorite!” 

“You’re on,” Tsuyu ribbited, excitedly. “I wonder if they have Selky as a character...”  
\-----

Unfortunately, they were not the only two people who wanted to be at the arcade that day. But while the arcade had plenty of other normal patrons, Hela and Conner stood across the street, eyeing the building as customers came and went. 

“So you want me to just... bulldoze the place?” Conner asked, confused. “This isn’t about money? You don’t want me to rob it?”

“Not at all,” Hela smiled. “I have no need for your mortal currency. Just destroy the building and everyone inside.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Conner backed up, eyes narrowed. “Look, lady. I’ve gone along with this whole crazy thing. I don’t who you are to just show up with portals, or give me this weird, freaky Quirk, but all of that I can deal with. I’m not a murderer though.”

Hela’s smile did not waver in the least. Instead, her eyes flashed green. Conner’s did the same, and his body went slack and limp. “You WILL be merciless... isn’t that right, my Absorbing Man?”

“You got it, boss,” Conner replied, flatly. He placed a hand against a brick wall behind him in a jerking motion, his skin becoming brick itself.   
\----

“YES!” Midoriya shouted, fist-pumping as his All Might knocked out Tsuyu’s Gang Orca. Realizing his outburst, he blushed and rubbed the back of his neck as he turned to Tsuyu. “I mean, good game.” 

The two laughed, as they had been during the entirety of the match. At one point, Asui had decided to button-mash her way through the entire game, and nearly won until Deku gave up and did the same. “I guess that makes us tied,” Tsuyu giggled. “I won’t go so easy on you next time.”

“You’re more competitive than you let on, aren’t you?” Izuku laughed. “I never would have guessed.” 

“It comes from having to share a bathroom with siblings.” Tsuyu replied, leading him over to the basketball game. She paused, placing her index finger to her chin. “Tell you what; loser of the most games buys ice cream.”

“You sure?” 

She nodded,

“You’re on then!” 

The two of them competed like that for the next hour or so, tallying up points, losing track, and then making it up as they went along. At some point, both of them forgot about being nervous until their hands would brush against each other at the controls of a game. 

“I think I’m almost out of points on this,” Midoriya said, holding up his card. “One more game to settle it?” 

“Sounds fair,” Tsuyu ribbited in agreement, and the two scanned the area. While an arcade was usually noisy, suddenly the voices got louder and louder all around them. The two had naturally wandered towards the back of the floor as they progressed through the games, but they noticed a lot of people were now scrambling towards the front. “Is something going on?” 

Midoriya took notice too, straining his eyes to look through crowd, when a crash was heard at the other end. “That doesn’t sound good...” 

The two green-haired teens began to run forward towards the entrance of the building when a man that looked to be made of brick punched through an arcade cabinet and burst towards them, making them jump back. The brick man took a swing at them, but Izuku dove and shoved Tsuyu to the ground before contact could be made.

They sprang to their feet, surprised that the brick villain seemed to just keep going past them, not realizing whether or not he had hit them. “Who the heck is that?!” Asui asked, bewildered. 

Izuku looked at the retreating back of the man, straining his memory. “I... I’m not sure. Not any villain I’ve seen yet.”

Without warning, the villain picked up an arcade cabinet off the ground, ripping its cord out of the socket, and chucked at a child in a random direction. Without hesitation, Asui sprang forward, grabbed the child with her tongue, and pulled the small boy out of the way just in time from getting smashed. 

Enraged, Midoriya opened his hand to summon Mjolnir, which flew in through the opening the villain had made in the front of the building. Giving the hammer a few quick spins in his hand, he threw it at the back of the villain’s head. 

The Brick Villain stumbled forward upon impact, chips of concrete falling off of him as he collapsed into a metal support pillar. As he touched the pillar, his skin began to change, become smooth and gray. 

“What’s he doing?!” Asui croaked, hopping back over to Izuku. “Is he changing skin, kero?” 

Ever quick to analyze the situation, Midoriya’s brain whirred as he recalled Mjolnir. “He must become whatever he touches. That’s an incredibly rare Quirk, a case like that hasn’t been seen in -”

He was interrupted from his Mumble-Mode as another arcade cabinet was flung at him. Dropping Mjolnir at his side, he caught the machine and threw it back at the Villain, who merely punched through it while roaring angrily. 

“GET OUT OF MY WAY!” 

Midoriya looked around as other patrons of the arcade fled; he knew he had to leave this villain to the Pros... but he wasn’t going to just stand around and let anyone get hurt either. 

He picked up Mjolnir and spun it at his side, arms and weapon beginning to spark. “I say thee nay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is something I guess of an original arc/story I wanted to interject in this story, as there are still some weeks of summer left for Midoriya. 
> 
> The Absorbing Man is a minor villain of Marvel Comics, usually a Thor villain, but has tussled with likes of Spider-Man, Hulk and others. His backstory is much, MUCH DIFFERENT than what I wrote, but of course, this story takes place centuries later. Hela, who in comic history is Loki's daughter (as opposed to sister in the movies) is brushing off an old play, as Loki created the original Absorbing Man in the comics.


	30. The Absorbing Man Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midoriya has a brief encounter with a potentially deadly foe, and tries to salvage his date

The Absorbing Man, skin completely gray and metallic, lunged for Asui and Midoriya, but Izuku shot him with a blast of lightning that sent the Villain flying backward through the arcade. He crashed through a giant crane machine, sending oversized stuffed animals and comically large basketballs flying all over the place.

“Hey, we can’t go trying to take this guy down unlicensed,” Asui said, tugging his arm. “We’re already on thin ice!” 

“I know,” Midoriya said, biting his lip. He spun Mjolnir a few more times as he recharged. “I just want to distract him until some Pros get here.”

Tsuyu frowned, but looked around. Kids were scrambling around in fear all over. “You’re right... I’ll get everyone out of here. You keep him contained, okay?” 

“Got it,” he nodded. 

The two separated, Asui hopping towards a family ducking into the prize room, and Midoriya flying directly towards the villain. Absorbing Man had pulled himself out of the crane machine and was ready to keep fighting. As soon as he saw Midoriya flying towards him, he threw a sloppy haymaker at the flying teen. 

_This guy doesn’t really know how to fight at all!_ Midoriya thought, landing on his feet and crouching so that the metal punch went zooming over his head. He responded in kind by leaping up and uppercutting the Absorbing Man across the chin with Mjolnir. The villain was thrown on his back.

 _These are sloppy, telegraphed moves._ Midoriya realized, flying up and hurling Mjolnir down at the villain to pin him to the ground. 

However, having steel skin at least made Absorbing Man very durable; he rolled out of the way, Mjolnir clanging against the floor having just barely missed its mark. 

As Midoriya began falling, he recalled Mjolnir to his hand and gave the Absorbing Man and electrified smash against the cheek as he reached the ground. To his shock, the metallic man’s head jerked to the side violently, and he stumbled backwards, but stayed on his feet. Still, Midoriya followed up quickly, spinning through his swing and coming back around to bash his hammer against the knees of the taller man. 

Absorbing Man dropped to his knees from the blow, but wasted no time uppercutting Midoriya, forcing some separation between the two of them. While painful, Midoriya wiped his chin enraged, and was ready to dive back in when Asui’s tongue grabbed his midsection and pulled him away. 

“What’s going on?” He asked, alarmed.

She jerked her thumb behind them; flashing red and blue lights, as well as sirens, told them that the Pros and the police had arrived. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t get caught with your, ‘distraction,’ kero.”

Though reluctant to leave, Midoriya nodded at her, and the two ran towards the entrance. Their concerns subsided shortly after, however, as they heard a triumphant cry of, “YOUR DESTRUCTION ENDS NOW, FOR I AM HERE!” 

They turned, once they reached the doors, seeing All Might landing on the floor of the arcade, staring down the Absorbing Man. While this was something of a relief, Midoriya couldn’t help but notice the Symbol of Peace was favoring his right side somewhat. 

Once outside, the two students waited outside, eager to see how this panned out. Inside, All Might stared down the villain, who turned and charged at him as the last person left in the building. 

_Some kind of Hardening Quirk, perhaps?_ All Might wondered. Still ever quick to smile and smash through a villain, he gave a cry of, “DETROIT SMASH,” and bulldozed his way to the villain with a haymaker. The steel-coated villain was thrown into a pile of destroyed arcade cabinets, and began feeling his way through the wreckage as it sparked and crackled. 

_Well, he took more of a beating than the last Hardening Villain I took - WHAT THE HECK?!_

The Absorbing Man climbed from the pile, now both metallic and sparking with electricity himself. He lunged for All Might, who dodged to the side with incredible speed. 

But he noticed he wasn’t as fast as he had been before giving his Quirk to Mirio. The revelation hit almost as much as the Pac-Man machine that the Absorbing Man had thrown. Confusion replaced by rage, All Might grabbed the machine and lunged for the villain. As the Absorbing Man flew at him in a blind rage, All Might swung the arcade machine like a club, smashing the villain and sending him through the roof of the building. 

All Might’s smile widened. “Still got it.” He jumped through the same hole, landing on the roof and surveying the area to see where the Absorbing Man should have landed. He made large hop over there, landing on a neighboring rooftop. 

His grin fell he surveyed the area.

The villain was gone.  
\-----  
Midoriya and Asui gasped in amazement as the Absorbing Man they had briefly tussled with go flying the building and out of sight further down the block. 

“All Might took care of that so quick!” Midoriya said, bouncing excitedly on his heels.

“I know he teaches for us, but it’s so easy to geek out when we get to see him in action,” Asui agreed, craning her neck, trying to see where the villain had gone.

Before they could try and look further, the police began ushering people back to close down the battle site as a crime scene. Not long after, officers began trying to round up people for questioning. 

“Maybe we should get out here, kero,” Asui suggested, quietly. “We probably shouldn’t get caught up in something like this so soon after what happened to you. Even if we were just helping people get out, they might give us some funny looks.” 

Midoriya nodded, though uneasy, “Yeah... you’re right.” 

Trying not to stand out in the crowd, they began to slide backwards among the others who escaped the wreckage. As they reached the back of the crowd, Midoriya turned to Asui and smiled. “So... do you still want ice cream? We never really finished our competition so... I’ll buy.”

“Kero, how could I say no to that?” She beamed. 

Making sure to move away from the commotion, Midoriya lead the way, noticing that for some reason his nerves had settled immensely.  
\-----  
Hela opened a portal and dropped Conner in a cell in her throne room in Hel. Having watched the absolute failure of her creation to even put a dent in Midoriya Izuku, she had half a mind to just let Conner get arrested and be done with him. But never one to do things by half measures, she decided to hang on to him, just in case. 

She slouched in her throne and drummed her fingers against her cheek. She had been hoping that All for One could remove the power of the God of Thunder from the Midoriya boy. Short of that, she supposed killing him to draw out Thor would have to do.

The problem is, as she knew well, Asgardians were hard to kill. Every second, Midoriya grew more and more Asgardian, and more and more resilient. 

She eyed her project. Conner was a pathetic, broken man, but his unwillingness for murder made him rather useless. A brainwashed machine was never quite as effective as a ruthless, calculated attacker.

Hela hummed to herself. “Perhaps,” she mused, “if I break him further, his inhibitions will break.”  
\-----

Midoriya handed his cash to the clerk, and was rewarded with a two scoop cone of mint chocolate chip and a two scoop cone of vanilla with a chocolate dip for his transaction. He turned and walked outside to find Asui waiting at the bench, right where he had left her. As their eyes met, they shared a genuine smile, certainly helped by the fact they were about to share some dessert. 

“Here you go,” he said, sitting down next to her and handing her the green frozen delight. 

“My favorite, kero,” she ribbited happily. “Thanks for not making a comment about me liking the green ice cream. Everyone does that.” 

“I can’t say the thought didn’t cross my mind,” Izuku admitted guiltily, taking a lick of his own. 

“I understand, everyone who sees the green hair and knows I have a Frog Quirk assumes everything I like is green, and all the green foods are my favorite. It’s really just this one,” Tsuyu griped. 

“That’s kind of silly, there are lots of colors of frogs out there. Not like they’re all green.” 

“I blame Kermit.” Asui giggled a bit. “Kids used to sing, ‘it’s not easy being green,’ at me all the time. It ruined the Muppets for me.” 

“That’s a shame,” Izuku laughed, “The Muppets are great.” His eyes traveled up towards his own head. “I used to get that too. Or I’d be called a broccoli.” 

The two laughed. “I can see the resemblance, kero.” Asui admitted.

“My favorite is vanilla,” Izuku admitted, finishing off the first scoop. “Mostly because it goes with everything. All the toppings. But... it’s so boring, you know? It’s like the default flavor. Growing up Quirkless, it just felt like I was vanilla in every sense of the word. So I used to just not get the flavor because... I don’t know, I guess I thought it made me more exciting?”

Asui giggled. She wrapped her entire tongue around her cone, taking a big glob of ice cream. It made Midoriya squirm for a second. “That’s pretty silly.”

He laughed. “Yeah. It was. I did a lot of goofy things as a kid, wanting to be a Hero despite being Quirkless.” 

“Well, look where you are now,” Tsuyu smiled from across the bench at him. “You’re the strongest person in class! I think you’re going to be a great Hero.”

Izuku turned bright red. “Th-thanks, Tsuyu. I think you are too... I um... I think we make a really great team as well.” 

“I’m glad,” she said.

Then, she did something that set off alarm bells in Midoriya’s head. She finished her ice cream cone, and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

 _HOLY SHIT!_ He screamed internally. 

“Before I came to UA, people always used to look at me and my family differently,” Tsuyu sighed, leaning a little bit more weight onto Midoriya’s shoulder.

“I um...I uh know that people with mutation type Quirks face that prejudice sometimes,” Midoriya replied, quietly. “I know Gang Orca is always speculated to be a secret Villain, just because of how vicious he looks.”

“Yeah. People always saw my hands, or my eyes and just gave me weird looks.” Tsuyu said. “When you can use it to be a Hero, it’s maybe not as bad, but it was really hard for me to make friends growing up.” 

“Oh, like your friend Habuko you told me about?” Midorya asked, glad he remembered.

“Right, and she had it much worse than me.” Tsuyu said. “None of you guys in class do that to me though. But you especially... remember when we were being attacked at the USJ?”

“How could I forget?” He answered, a bit sarcastically.

“Yeah, not exactly the best day,” she laughed. “When I told you about all my powers... even the thing with my stomach, you just looked at me like it was the coolest thing you’d ever seen. And you summon a mythical hammer and control weather.”

“It IS cool,” Deku insisted, finishing his ice cream, “your Quirk is so multi-faceted. You’re going to be an awesome H-MPH”

He didn’t really get to finish the thought, as Tsuyu had grabbed the collar of his shirt, turned and pulled him in so their lips met. She gripped his t-shirt desperately, as if he’d fly away if she were to let go. And frankly, Midoriya felt as if he could; the taste of mint mixed with the warmth of her lips. A chill went up his entire spine and lightning seemed to flash behind his eyelids as his heart hammered against his chest. 

After a moment, she pulled away, and the two stared at each other, mouth agape for a few seconds.

“S-sorry,” Tsuyu said, “just... you’re really sweet, and I really like it, and I couldn’t help it.”

Izuku’s face felt like it was on fire, his pants tighter, and he forgot if it was Saturday or Christmas. Still, he managed to stammer out, “I-I really like you too, Tsuyu. You don’t have to apologize... I uh... wanted to do that.”

Of course, he wouldn’t admit he was glad she took the initiative to do it first.

She laid her head back against his shoulder, and the two gave themselves a minute for their nerves to calm. A first kiss is always nerve-wracking, after all. 

After awhile, Tsuyu said, quietly, “This has really been a perfect night.”

Izuku couldn’t help but laugh, “Even with the Villain attack?”

Asui laughed. “Yeah, even with that. I just... really like being with you, kero.”

After a moment, Asui looked down at her phone and groaned. “Ugh. It’s after ten. I better start heading back, my parents told me if I was back any later than eleven I’d be in solitary for the rest of the summer.”

“Yeah, my mom said something similar,” Midoriya said, disappointed. “I don’t want to ruin the rest of your summer.”

“I don’t think anything could ruin the rest of my summer,” Asui said, smiling. They began walking towards the train, hands intertwining along the way.  
\-----

Conner woke up on a cold, hard surface, with a crick in his neck and the worst headache he had ever had in his life. He reached up and touched his face, feeling a bruise across the whole thing. He shot bolt upright, unsure of how much of his memories were real - there was a lady coming out of portals, he was granted a Quirk, he refused to murder people... and then nothing. Just an odd, blissful void that maintained a gap in his memories. 

As his vision returned to him in the darkness, he was reassured that it wasn’t a dream. Unfortunately, the reassurance was far from comforting. From behind steel bars, he could see the strange woman who had granted him his Quirk, sitting in a stone cavern on a throw. Pillared torches surrounding her glowed with green flame. 

Springing to his feet, he began to panic, “Where am I?!” 

Hela looked up at him, bored. “The Underworld.”

“Oh... OH SHIT, AM I DEAD?!” Conner screamed, springing up. “THERE’S SO MUCH I DIDN’T DO! I NEVER FINISHED MY BOOK!”

“You were writing a book?” Hela asked.

“... no.”

“You’re not dead. Not yet,” Hela said, “But you failed. You were supposed to destroy indiscriminately. Do you know how many people you killed?”

Conner winced. “No.”

“None. Zero. No one even got injured.”

Conner breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh good.”

“NO, NOT GOOD!” Hela yelled, making the petty thief jump. “Are you dense, mortal? Do you think I gave you this ability for fun? For charity? You’re a weapon, an extension of my being.”

Conner breathed, shakily. “Lady, I’m no hitman.”

“That’s fine,” she smirked. “Breaking mortals is fun... and I do grow so bored down here.”

The torches went out, and shortly after, Conner’s screams could be heard in every corner of the Underworld.


	31. As Summer Ends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time waits for no man, nor god. The students of class 1-A say goodbye to summer and look towards their future.

“So... tell me more about this Villain you did... er, did not fight?” Thor asked, swinging a greatsword down at Midoriya’s head.

Midoriya swung Mjolnir, knocking the blade away, spinning through his strike so he could make for a swing at Thor’s knee. “His eyes were glowing green, and he was acting like he wasn’t with it. But his Quirk was crazy! Whatever he touched, his whole body became. First he was brick, then he was steel, and according to the news when All Might fought him, he became electrified.”

“And you won’t get in trouble for your unlicensed scuffle?” Thor asked, jumping backwards out of the way of Midoriya’s attack. He shot a bolt of lightning with his left hand. 

Midoriya spun Mjolnir to absorb the lightning and flung it back. Thor leaned back to his right, just barely dodging it. “Right. No one saw me fight him, and All Might says he never saw anything.”

“Let’s call it a day,” Thor replied, abruptly, trying to hide the unease that was bubbling up in his stomach. 

Midoriya looked at him, eyebrow cocked slightly. "Already? We haven't been sparring that long..."

"Yes, well, your mother wanted you back early tonight for... Homework..." Thor lied.

"I finished my summer homework though..."

"Er... Must have been something else," Thor said with a shrug. "Off with you."

Before Midoriya could object further, Thor whisked him away via lightning. _One day, I'll replace Heimdall._ ; He thought. 

Then, the Asgardian King stormed to Loki's room and kicked the door open. "LOKI!" 

Loki, who had been reading at a desk, looked up, bored. "Oh goodie, I'm in trouble," he drawled, a smug look on his face. 

Thor was not nearly as amused. "Did you make a new Absorbing Man?" 

Loki's smugness dissipated, replaced with a look of genuine confusion. "What?" 

You heard me," Thor fumed. "While on his romantic excursion, Midoriya encountered a man with the exact powers of the Absorbing Man." 

"Hang on," Loki stood up, with a furrowed brow, "... Midoriya went on a date and you didn't tell me?" 

"THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT!" 

Loki snickered; sometimes Thor made it too easy. "Why would I recreate one of my biggest failures and them send it to attack Midoriya's date? He's practically family." 

"Look how this family has historically treated each other," Thor retorted dryly. "And it's just the sort of thing a God of Mischief would do." 

"... That's fair," Loki admitted. "But I assure you, I have no interest in, 'cock-blocking,' your heir, as the Midgardians say." 

The two remained silent for a minute, pondering the situation, before the trickster's eyes lit up. "Wait... This could still be a family situation..."  
\-----  
"Home so soon?" Inko asked as her son walked in, his casual clothes slightly less sweaty than usual. 

"Yeah, Thor called it an early day." Midoriya replied. "Is there anything you needed me to do?" 

"I wouldn't mind some help with the dishes," Inko shrugged, "otherwise you should enjoy the last week of summer." 

Deku gladly walked over to help, but with confirmation that Thor had lied about sending him home, it nagged at the back of his head that his mentor had seemed so spooked about his encounter. 

_Maybe it's time for a little history research tonight..._

After helping his mother, he excused himself to his room and sat down at his laptop. Researching Thor's past was a bit tricky, as the web was saturated with stories about the god's reemergence to fight All for One. Since then, Thor had been careful not to show his face publicly. And while reporters had taken to waiting outside Midoriya's building, they eventually got the hint the Asgardian was making himself scarce. 

Still, there was enough information that Midoriya refreshed his knowledge of Thor's recorded battles with the Avenger's against historical villains. While Loki was the most well known (at least in Earth history), he eventually found that the God of Mischief had created a pawn of his own to act against his brother. 

A villain called... "The Absorbing Man," Midoriya read aloud. 

He grabbed his phone; he needed to tell someone he trusted about this...  
\-----  
"So you think this guy is another Absorbing Man like the one Loki made way back when, kero?" Asui asked, swallowing her bite of burger. 

Midoriya had asked Tsuyu to meet him for lunch so he could tell her his theories about the villain the two of them had encountered. 

It also gave him an excuse to ask her out on a second date. 

"I think so," Izuku explained. "That type of Quirk is incredibly rare, and hardly ever acts that quickly. But what really gets me is how freaked out it made Thor when I told him. And this whole thing happened when me being the next God of Thunder was made public." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't sound crazy, do I?" 

Tsuyu finished a slurp of her drink and gave him a small grin. “Technically you’ve sounded crazy since you first told me about all this Asgard stuff in the first place. But you’ve been right so far. It’s hard to say with this guy. Did you try asking Thor about it?” 

“Not yet,” Midoriya admitted sheepishly. “With how he kicked me out, I thought maybe it was something he didn’t want to discuss. People think Loki was responsible for the last Absorbing Man.” 

“Would Loki make another one to fight you, kero?” 

“I don’t think so. He always refers to me as the one smart thing Thor’s done.” 

This prompted a laugh from Tsuyu, which always made Izuku’s stomach flip. “Well, then what’s the harm in asking?” 

“Y-yeah, good point,” Midoriya laughed. “I just hope if it is some weird... recurring God of Thunder stuff that I have to deal with, sorry you got caught up with it.” 

Asui smiled again, and reached across the table to place her hand on top of his. “If I wasn’t prepared to deal with Villains sometimes, I wouldn’t be in the Hero course. Besides, we make a good team, right?” 

“Right!” Midoriya grinned. “I uh... hope we can be a real team at some point.” 

“Do you mean that professionally or romantically?” Asui teased him. 

“W-well t-they say you shouldn’t mix work with feelings, b-but some Pro couples -” Midoriya stuttered out nervously, caught off guard by the question, but Tsuyu’s laughter made him stop. 

“I’m just teasing, Izuku.” She giggled. “I hope we get to do this a lot too.” She stretched her tongue out across the table and poked it against his cheek, making him blush. “Making you flustered is just too fun sometimes.” 

“W-well one day I’ll get you back for it.” Izuku joked. 

“I’ll hold you to that, kero. I think my nerves are bit more composed than yours,” she teased. She checked her phone and sighed. “I should get back. My parents want me to watch my siblings today. Why don’t you go ask Thor about the guy we ran in to?” 

He nodded. “I will. Thanks for your help, Tsuyu.” 

As he got up to leave, she walked to his side and gave him a peck on the lips. _I could get used to that,_ he thought, warmth flowing through him.  
\----- 

Conner gasped for breath in the short reprieve he was granted via Hela; the last twelve hours had been a bitter cycle of frostbite, hellfire, electric torture, and bees. Worse yet, he had been suspended by the wrists and ankles, unable to absorb anything to help him endure. 

He was thrust back into his cell by an unseen force, coughing in a fit. From her throne Hela watched him with a bored expression on her face. 

“So. Are you ready to consider killing a certain young man?” She drawled. 

So now it’s just one?” Conner heaved, sucking in air as hard as he could. “Why can’t you just kill him?” 

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you?” Hela sighed. “Unfortunately, outside my realm, my powers are considerably weaker than they are here. Teleporting you and granting you your abilities drained me far more than I’d like. And that was only possible as I’d seen it done before.” 

“Lucky me,” Conner wheezed. 

“Just one kill, Conner,” Hela replied, grinning. “That’s all I ask. Then you can be free, and you can take what you need in this unjust society that gave you no Quirk.” 

Conner trembled. “I... I don’t know.” 

That was not the answer the Queen of the Underworld wanted; a portal opened beneath him, dropping him into a pit of flames once more. 

“Well... I am a patient woman,” Hela said.  
\----- 

Thor stared at Midoriya, partly in awe of how quickly his young ward was to connect the dots of Thor’s past, and partly annoyed that he hadn’t seen this coming. Not a day had passed since he and Loki had suspected Hela’s part in creating a new Absorbing Man, and Midoriya was already asking if it was related to either of the Asgardians. 

He looked to Loki, who shrugged. “He’s your heir, not mine.” 

“Well...” Thor sighed, “It’s not Loki. who made him.” 

Midoriya let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. That would be pretty awkward since he just lent me those books on Asgardian witchcraft. Could it be someone else?” 

Thor shifted uneasily again. “Well, about that...” 

“It was probably my daughter, Hela, Queen of the Underworld and part-time Villain.” Loki blurted out with an air of nonchalance. 

Thor turned to his brother incredulously. “Loki!” 

“What?” 

“You’re the God of Lies and Mischief and you’re just going to sit here and tell the truth in the worst possible way?!” Thor groaned. 

“Well, it creates more mischief,” Loki beamed. “For you.” 

“Whoa... wait, Queen of the Underworld?!” Midoriya cried. “Like...hell?” 

“Well, technically Hel,” Thor corrected him, “Not the way Midgardians think of it. For unjust and evil souls, it is indeed a foul place of judgment. But for most people it’s pretty chill.” 

Still, for the ruler of all souls NOT killed in glorious battle, Hela has always been a rather ambitious child.” Loki added. “Every few centuries or millennia, she tries to rise up and usurp the Throne of Asgard and all the Nine Realms.” 

“...oh,” Midoriya said, quietly. “Does that mean... she’s going to come for me?” 

“More than likely, yes,” Thor nodded, a grim expression crossing his face. “However, as ruler of the Underworld, that is considered her realm, and her powers are considerably weaker outside of it.” 

“So as long as you stay out of the Underworld, you’re fine. Probably,” Loki advised. 

“But we can’t be sure this is her handiwork yet. The important thing though, is that until we know, keep an eye out for the Absorbing Man,” Thor warned him, “because anywhere he is, she’s sure to be watching.” 

Midoriya nodded. “Got it. So... is anyone else out to get me now that I’m God of Thunder?” 

“Undoubtedly,” Thor shrugged. “I don’t know who though. They seem to just pop out of the woodwork from time to time.” 

“Guess that’s Hero life,” Izuku replied with a weak grin.  
\-----  
The rest of the summer came and went without any other incident. On the last Saturday before classes started again, class 1-A met at the beach for one last hurrah. Midoriya had never been one to be invited to parties before; being Quirkless usually meant being friendless. But when he arrived at the shore to see Todoroki, Asui, Iida, Sero, Aoyama, and Uraraka all wave to him excitedly, he realized life had been pretty good to him since joining UA. 

Hey Midoriya!” Sero cried happily, “haven’t seen you since you and Jiraiya-sensei took off to train.” 

“I got that reference,” Izuku laughed. Asui hopped over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, shocking the rest of the classmates. It shocked him too; he’d never seen her in a swimsuit before, and he felt particularly lucky. 

Izuku became immediately aware neither of them had told anyone they started dating. As he returned the hug, he couldn’t help but notice Uraraka go especially pale while Todoroki smirked. 

“Kero, let’s go swimming!” Asui croaked. “Iida thinks he can swim faster than me, and we want you to judge.” 

“It’s scientifically not feasible for you to beat me, as my engines are water resistant,” Iida near-shouted. “But if you and Midoriya are now romantically involved, I require a second judge!” 

“Okay, okay, I’m coming...” Todoroki grumbled. 

The rest of the afternoon was a perfect way to see off summer, though Midoriya was constantly flustered as Mina and Hagakure hounded him for details about how long he and Asui had been going out. After an uncomfortable amount of time, Asui popped her head out of the lake and spit a stream of water at Midoriya, saving him from the two gossipers. 

“I think he’s been thoroughly interrogated,” she teased, as Ashido and Hagakure laughed and backed off. 

As the sun went down, Todoroki lit a bonfire as Kirishima showed up with Bakugou (who had to be convinced to sneak out of his house). Izuku was in the middle of a splash fight with Uraraka and Kaminari when Tsuyu popped out of water in front of him, making him jump again. 

“You’re so sneaky in the water,” he laughed, splashing her a bit. 

She responded by planting a kiss on him, pulling back, and spitting water at his forehead, making him laugh harder. “And you’re cute when you’re wet, kero. Come on, we’re going to grill hot dogs.” 

“Sounds good,” he beamed, “let’s go... guys?” 

Kaminari was still there, heartily agreeing to food, but Uraraka was already taking off, quickly for the shore. 

“Is she okay?” Asui asked, “She’s seemed kind of quiet today.” 

Midoriya shrugged. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” 

Still, the three of them joined the rest of the class at the shore, cooking hot dogs over the fire as it began to get dark. 

As the day wound down, slowly, the class began to filter out, heading back home to rest for what little amount of summer they had left. By the time the stars had come out, half the class was gone. 

As those who remained watched Kirishima and Bakugou have an arm wrestling contest, Asui tugged on the sleeve of Midoriya. “Kero. Want to go for a little walk before I have to leave?” 

“Sure,” Midoriya beamed. 

The two excused themselves, promising the others to stay within sight of the bonfire, and began walking the shoreline. 

“I haven’t been to this beach in awhile,” Midoriya said, snaking his hand around Asui’s. 

“Kero?” She asked, inquisitively. “I take my siblings here all the time during the summer. They’re pretty bummed they have to go back to school. Why’d you stop?” 

“Well... I used to come here a lot with my dad before he died,” he replied, quietly. 

“Oh...” Tsuyu said, quietly. “I didn’t mean to pry.” 

“No... it’s okay,” he replied, smiling at her. “I trust you. I don’t mind telling you this stuff. Dating means getting to know each other, right? Anyway... Not long after the doctor’s told me I was Quirkless, he had to go to America for business. But his plane was lost at sea. They... they never found him." 

"I'm sorry, kero." 

"Thanks," he replied, sincerely. "For awhile the ocean scared me, you know? I thought it’d eat me like it did my dad.” 

“You seemed okay today, so I’m assuming you got past that part?” Asui asked, poking her free finger to her chin. 

“Yeah,” he said, a small laugh escaping his lips. “It took a few trips to the therapist, but I got past it. I was able to swim at other beaches and pools and stuff. But coming here just always made me think of him, so I just didn’t. I think I needed this though.” 

“Why’s that?” 

“Making new memories,” he grinned. “Today... was really great.” 

Asui turned and hugged him abruptly. “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.” 

“You think so?” 

“I can tell,” she croaked. “I’m really glad I was able to be part of the good memories." 

“Me too,” Midoriya grinned. He leaned down and kissed her. This one became a bit more... passionate than the previous ones they had shared. 

It was a romantic moment for the two of them, kissing in the moonlight. 

It was also very distracting; neither of them noticed the Absorbing Man, blended in with the sand, a mere twenty feet away, peering at both of them from the ground. 

_Too many witnesses. Those kids will come looking,_ Conner thought, grimacing. _That... and I don’t exactly want to kill him._

He watched as the two walked back towards the bonfire. _Still... it doesn’t hurt... to learn about the enemy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ends the summer! Midoriya has gained quite a mastery of the powers of the God of Thunder. And a girlfriend!
> 
> And a stalking Absorbing Man!
> 
> Unfortuantely, the story is going to be going on hiatus. The reason I'm doing this is, quite frankly, work has been taking it's toll on me and I've fallen behind on writing. I want to come back to this story for sure, but I need to focus on some original works and my home/work life. 
> 
> I look forward to posting again on this work in the future. Happy reading!


End file.
